Castletown Golf Club
PETER GRIFFITHS - GREAT, UNTIL THE FINAL APPROACH SHOT
Jeff Moore, Bob Easton, the winner Peter Griffiths and Peter Wood - from Mount Murray GC - enjoyed the sponsor's invite and were full of praise for the course.
Resilience Asset Management utilize a sustainable approach to investment management. This was reflected in the decision to sponsor an open competition at Castletown Golf Club giving competitors the ‘links experience’ with a difference.
The course was played on the old routing, so only the first three, plus the last four holes, were played in the usual sequence. In addition, some of the stroke indexes reverted to their former order, making it a non-qualifying event for handicap purposes.
This did not particularly phase the winner Peter Griffiths (18) from Mount Murray GC, as he amassed his mighty 42 points from the first 17 holes. Having navigated the course in half his handicap Griffiths came a cropper on the ‘un-four-gettable’ 18th.
Matt Ascroft (13) - shown above -was ‘going great guns’, firing a fourth birdie on the 15th. Standing at just two over par with three holes to play, Ascroft was well ahead on 39 points. Then, a couple of blanks blighted his card and Ascroft slipped to second with 40 points.
After a relatively slow start, Paul Reid (10) - shown above -stepped in with 39 points and was the clubhouse leader at lunchtime. A lost ball on the 17th led to Reid’s second double bogey. Excluding them, Reid completed the course in just three over par.
A back-three countback was needed to determine fourth place. Both the competition’s sponsor Greg Easton (13) and Chris Biddulph (7) from Peel GC shot 38s. They were respectively rewarded, leaving the final division one prize to be awarded.
Hence, Mark Davenport (26) and Ramsey GC’s Craig Dalton (15) dipped out on 37 points as did three of the four players on 36. Only Mark Todd (6) in ninth place overall met the qualification criteria.
Down in twelfth place with 35 points, club champion Andrew Challenor was, for the second week running, the most frugal player. His one under-par 71 included four beguiling birdies and three burdensome bogeys.
Wednesday’s mixed mid-week Stableford attracted 44 entrants and, with a third of the field meeting or beating their handicap, it was no surprise that countback would be called upon. That it would be based on 43 points, and would go down to the last six holes, perhaps could not have been predicted.
The countback king was Allan Thomsen (16) who recorded 81/65 with Paul Kennedy (14) hot on his heals on 79/65. Just one point behind, Bronwen Raatgever (29) was the first lady home in third place. Those 42 impressive points being six clear of any of her lady compatriots.
On the previous Sunday, Tami James (32) enjoyed nett eagles on the 2nd, 5th and 15th on her way to winning the Ramsey Crookall sponsored Stableford with 43 points. Jonathan Hall (26) was second with 40 points from seventeen scoring holes. Dan Williams (5) took just 75 shots to register his 38 points for third place.
This coming Saturday the Golf Foundation, a charity which provides a pathway into golf for under-privileged children, is sponsoring a Stableford where the ultimate prize is the opportunity to play in the BMW PGA Pro-Am Championship at Wentworth in September.
MALCOLM LAMBERTCreated by intelligentgolf version 10.1.2.
