Castletown Golf Club
GARETH MORRIS DANCES ROUND IN ONE OVER PAR
What wind there was had all but dissipated by lunchtime at Castletown Golf Club on sunny Saturday. This favoured the late starters in the penultimate round of the Winter League and was reflected on the leaderboard.
Greenkeeper Mike Chanley being a Road Hole Roller.
Successful pre-season testing of the new irrigation system on the 7th green which had just been aerated using a solid, 12mm diameter tine to a depth of 150mm.
The course conditions were good, including the receptive greens which had been aerated then ironed during the week. Hopes were high that the soggy 7th fairway would be back in action but, alas, we were restricted to a 15-holer.
Gareth Morris (3) started as he hoped to continue, with a birdie, and added another, a four-pointer, on the Road Hole. Only three bogeys corrupted his card, so Morris danced round in just one over par for 31 winning points. This hoisted him to fourth place in the Winter League on 33 placement points, and also fourth in the gross eclectic at seven under par on 65.
Initially, there was a three-way tie for second spot on 30 Stableford points. Convoluted countback calculations went down to the final hole between two Steves. The second of Steve McGowan’s beautiful back-nine birdies transformed into an eagle thus elevating him beyond Steve Zybert who finished with back-to-back nett birdies. McGowan (6) secured second and topped division two (handicaps 5-8).
Third placed Zybert (11) topped division three (handicaps 9 and over) with his 30 points pushing Frankie Doherty (4) on the same score, but one less on the back-nine, into fourth place where he was awarded the ‘next best’ prize in division one (handicaps up to 4). Doherty also moved up to third place in the Winter League with 35 placement points.
Martin Derbyshire (6) finished eleventh overall, but his 28 points were good enough to win the ‘next best’ prize in division two behind the aforementioned McGowan. Worthy of mention, but out of the prizes came Guy Pickard (1) and Mark Reid (+1) who both accumulated 29 points, leaving them third and fourth respectively in division one.
Coming close to capturing a hole-in-one, Mark Beresford nearly aced the 13th on his way to bagging the balls on offer for being NTP. He also boosted his clubhouse credit by £13.14 by tapping in the two from all of 0.88m. Michael Charmer conjured up three birdies during his round but did not convert the opportunity afforded by his 1.6m attempt on the 16th. Never-the-less, it did win him the NTP prize.
With one round to go, William Laughlin still leads the Winter League on 53 points. He is also in joint first place in the nett eclectic with 72/62 alongside Tim Shallcross and Martin Young. Daniel Laughlin, William’s nephew, lies second in the Winter League on 36 placement points and there is a two-way tie in the gross eclectic as both Neil Harris and Martin Young are at ten-under par on 62.
There was good support for the mixed midweek Stableford which was won with 31 points by former captain Michael Horsthuis (7) who had been out on Monday filling holes in the fairway as part of his artisan membership duties. A mystery remains on how, on the previous Friday, his borrowed buggy ended up in a bunker and needed to be extracted by the greenkeepers.
A back-six countback was required to separate Jamie Garrett (9) from Ross Mulligan (+3) in the 15-hole midweeker. They both scored 29 points and, despite sinking six birdies, Mulligan will no doubt wish he could have another go after his costly blob on the ‘un-four-gettable’ 18th.
For this Saturday there are currently two early afternoon tee times and eight random morning spaces available for the Paddy’s Day Open Scramble. Visitors can participate for less than £2 per hole. Book via the ‘Golf Genius’ app or call Oli on 822211 to join in the shenanigans.
MALCOLM LAMBERTCreated by intelligentgolf version 10.1.2.
