Castletown Golf Club
MINIONS MUGGED BY MULLIGANS
Starting on a positive note, the slightly less inclement weather allowed play at Castletown Golf Links on Saturday, albeit over 15 holes due to flooding on the 7th fairway. Unfortunately, the experimental competition format, a pairs ‘mulligan’ played off scratch, found favour with few. As expected, elite players dominated the leaderboard whilst the remainder repeated their shortcomings.
Effectively receiving 12 shots between them, club champion Chris Kneen and former island champion Robbie Noon blitzed the short course in seven under par. Kneen eagled the 3rd for four of their winning 37 points and booked birdies on four others. Noon, who matched Kneen on most holes, carded first on five from which he birdied three. Only the 11th and the ‘un-four-gettable’ 18th eluded their combined par or sub-par bombardment.
NOTE: All the photos above were taken earlier in the season, prior to the introduction of tee mats.
Daryl Callister and Tom Doyle would normally play off (+7) and (+4) respectively, so starting off scratch was a beneficial bonus for them. Northern Order of Merit competition champion Callister played 14 holes in five under par, leaving fellow Scratch League winner Doyle to sink a birdie on the Road Hole. Often scoring in symmetry, they bogeyed the 6th so had to settle for second on 35 points.
With only fifty fellows participating there were no more placement prizes. However, for the record, former club champion Andrew Challenor (+6), who eagled the 1st and achieved six-under through 13 holes, dovetailed with Mark Todd to take third on 34 points.
As the 8th was out of action there were only two nearest-the-pin prizes. The boxes of balls went to vice-captain Dan Williams (13th) and John Spellman on the 16th. Worthy of note, only ‘Chal’, and Jamie Garrett who birdied both short holes, managed multiple prizes from the two’s pot.
The midweek mixed 9-holer only attracted two takers, and Diane Neale (13 points) bagged the bragging rights over former captain Michelle Hooker who was one point back having been at sixes and sevens on all but two of her holes. William Laughlin stepped in with 39 points to win the 18-holer, four shots ahead of 2024 captain Roger Raatgever. Countback favoured Simon Murray in third. His 33 points were landed later than Andy Lagden in fourth.
This coming Saturday mathematicians will materialize for the ‘Two from Four Multiplier,’ trying to avoid an emphatic eagle coupled with a disappointing double bogey. The pro-shop ‘SALE’ continues, so why not nip in to bag a bargain from Oli and Rasheed who also have Xmas coaching packages aplenty?
MALCOLM LAMBERT
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