Scores for Saturday 18 December 2021 - POTY showdown

 

Well, in 2020 I got done by two MDs, in 2021 it seems I got done again by two MDs.

-          2021: My MD advised me not to play golf after I had fallen drunkenly from a train preventing me playing for the two points I needed to regain the POTY top spot which had recently been taken by Martin Lythgoe and to add insult to injury Duncan Miller also leapfrogged me on the last day to share the spoils with Martin.

-          2021: My MD told me to self-isolate after testing positive for the dreaded Covid-19 virus which has been responsible for a couple of years of grief. Then on the last day of the season Martin Deery swoops in to take the top spot with a nail-biting win, which we’ll get to later.

As I write this report and reflect on what could have been this season, I could allow myself to be despondent thinking about what could’ve been, but I think this was meant to be a year of second places. My London Metal Exchange golf exploits for instance have resulted in a number of second places – LME Golf-day, Captain’s-day, Christmas Fayre and the Knockout Cup. My football team are also second in the League 2 table as I write. So second place doesn’t feel so bad, especially when I was treated to such an exciting finale courtesy of the real-time scoring that was a product of the first lock-down.

So before I get to the final swindle report I’d like to say well done to Martin Deery. He has had a solid season and if anyone deserved to take the top spot in POTY on the last day it was him (or Paul!)

 

A cold still morning for the last round of the year. Anticipation had been building on WhatsApp and other news channels regarding the much-coveted POTY award. 16 players started the final round and 5 players were in with a chance of POTY in this shorter than usual season. Brian Geddes had pulled away earlier in the season with a run of good form but had been gradually reeled in by Coenraad Fourie, Martin Deery and Paul Gardner. Steve Reynolds also had an outside chance of a joint top spot but seemed far less likely to capitalise as he had yet to win a swindle this season so far. No fewer than 5 second places. Don’t worry Steve I know how you feel!!

We had intended that the groups should go out in reverse order of merit so that the conclusion of the last group’s round would also round up the season standings. This wasn’t to be however as DM had slept-in again a couple of weeks ago and the intended first group could only manage a 10:52 slot. This turned out well in the end as it allowed the contender to “watch” the last round come home.

A few reports from the round are worth noting.

Roger Gibbs had a bit of a shocker. He hit his drives just past the ladies-tee on 4, 9, 10 and 14! He says it was a hard day but he cannot have been hitting the ball hard at all.

James Miller broke into the 90s, matching my score from the Christmas “Cup” in his words – “A disaster today. Lost ball on 2. Mud ball. Lost ball on 4. Hit is over the trees towards the second hole. Lost two balls on 11. Out of bounds on 9. Think I ended up hitting a second shot off the tee on 4. 5. 9. 11. 12. 15. Not a great driving day.” – James was obviously missing the competition of our longest drive head to head, don’t worry James I’ll be back!

Paul Gardner had a typically steady round but clearly the pressure of playing with the top players and the top influencer was a little too much for the MetroGnome today. Obviously picked the wrong tyres for the conditions!

Now the scores

No one could call it after the front 9. There were two halves to today’s round. The front 9 saw some exceptional scoring with over half the players scoring 17 or better but only a third of those could manage the same on the back 9. Overall the scoring was ok thanks to 9 out of 16 players managing better than 30 points.

The front 9 went to John James in the end with 20 points. JJ managed 35 points today, enough to secure 4^th place overall so a good round given that JJ would’ve been walking. Well done John.

The back 9 went to Stephen Brewerton with 18 points. Steve also posted 35 points today securing 3^rd spot on countback from JJ. Well-done Steve.

Second spot went to Roger Small with 36 points. Roger flew out of the blocks, obviously favouring the late start, scoring 23 points on the front 9 despite a blob on the 9^th hole. Roger couldn’t keep it going for the full round and the 3 blobs on the back 9 cost him the top spot. Well done Roger.

Our winner today and for the season was Martin Deery with 36 points on countback from Roger Small. Martin posted 1 point less on the front 9 but 1 point more on the back 9. Well done Martin, a fine round and a fine season.

No more swindles in 2021 so thank you all for taking part, for your friendship, for your company and for all the golf we’ve played together. Have a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year, stay safe and come back in 2022 stronger than ever.