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Another nice dry day which started out as cloudy and cool, but warmed up considerably throughout the day saw Tony Botting come home as the winner in 2012 with a 4 shot victory over the field.
14 players in total showed this year with 10 in contention for the Trophy. This year's missing list included Les for the first time as an absentee as he could not change his work to get there in time. The usual suspects of Matt (working on Jubilee weekend) Lyn (babysitting suty) and Martin's now regular non attendance were the others not making the tee.
The course was tough with plenty of opportunity to lose balls - which most people took - and while it wasn't perfect, you could see they are working hard to improve it. There were some interesting holes and some real testers so it is little wonder the high handicappers and players who only go once a year found it hard at times. Green were far from perfect but more than acceptable for players of our standard!
The cards tell a story in the the back 9 is much harder than the front. Only 4 players bettered their "out" score coming in. There were some good scores going out with Tony Botting joint leading at the halfway stage with me. But I fell away with some really bad luck including losing a ball in the middle of a fairway and clipping the only leaf i could possibly hit to divert a ball that was heading for the green, into the rough. Add to that my colourblindness on the final hole meant i could not see the red posts for the pond and I splashed in to it with no idea it was there after thinking I had nailed a drive!
But the reality for me was that even with the back luck, Tony's 4 shots was a big bridge to close and i don't think it would have mattered.
Ian played well on his first outing for two years and finished joint third. He played some lovely stuff at times to show that it is still there! Plus we finally gave him two shots back after years of complaining....
Charlie had an up and down round and after picking up 4 points on the tough 13th, i thought he may start another run to the finish like last year. But he faded and so did his chances.
Patrick opened up really well and made par on the first and for the first third of his round he was up there with the leaders. But I am not sure what happened as he went on a run of blobs in the next 6 and sadly for his earned the wooden spoon.
Pete's once a year habit showed as his lack of play meant he came in with a poor 13 points. Still, if you will build an extension in your spare time instead of playing golf then this is going to happen.
Mike's make nando provided some entertainment with random tourettes style shouting on the course and good final three holes improved his card and got him away from the bottom scoring almost half his total points in those holes.
Former rookie champ Mike found it tough going and only 9 points out means you are always playing catch up. But he came away with the longest drive prize, so not a complete disaster.
Paul found life difficult with a hangover and playing off 7 never really featured which is rare for the 3 time champion.
Antony again started well with 14 out and with 3 points on the tenth when many didn't score, he was in contention again at this point just like last year. But again he faded and just mustered 5 more points on the remaining 8 holes to drift down the field.
Cliff was his usual consistent self with 14 out and 13 back. It could have been much better but no points in the last 3 holes killed him when 8 points from those would have sealed it.
Nick Mitchell with a broken thumb managed 27 points which is pretty good the way we do our handicaps and when fit i think will be a strong contender as a new player as he is improving rapidly.
Dennis rallied well to finish joint 3rd and any kind of score on the front 9 and he could have taken the shield and been the overall day winner, but he started sluggish and then joust 1 point in three holes to the turn left him too much to do on the back 9.
Mike's other mate Sam was similar to Dennis in that he had a decent back 9 and as such managed to steal 3rd place on count-back from Ian and Dennis.
So Tony Botting won for the second time and takes the new trophy home with him (after donating the prize money to the engraving fund) and it was well deserved.
1 - TONY B 34
2 - DANNY 30
3 - SAM - 29 (AHEAD ON COUNTBACK)
3- DENNIS - 29
3 - IAN 29
6 - CLIFF 27
7 - PAUL - 24
8 - NICK - 24
9 - ANTONY - 22
10 - MIKE - 20
11 - CHARLIE - 17
12 - NANDO - 16
13 - PETE - 13
14 - PAT - 12
Other winners:
4 hole beer challenge - Tony B
Nearest Pin - Sam
Longest Drive - Mike
Beer challenge scores (two easiest and two hardest)
tony 9
antony 7
cliff 7
ian 7
dennis 7
sam 7
danny 6
mike 6
paul 5
pete 2
charlie 1
nando 1
pat 0
