Scores for Saturday 9 July 2022
Anyway today was a day of two halves. The front 9 (for the early group at least) was overcast and pleasantly warm. On the back 9 the sun came out to started to bake us.
The temperature was set to get up into the 30s and so was the scoring. Average stableford today of 31.14 points and an average gross score of 91.1 with only one player breaking the 100 barrier today.
My round with the Miller brothers did deliver a few notables. Firstly, Duncan (Dunc the Bunk) seemed to have found a new fondness for bunkers - Fairway on 2, greenside on 3 and 4 etc. This led to an extraordinary run of blobs, 6 in total! James started ok (par/bogey) but somewhat fell apart when he shanked his tee shot on 3, necessitating the obligatory shout of "FORE" for the gents on the 4th tee. He then managed a birdie that didn't make the scorecard off the 4th tee, his shot fading high into the last tree on the right, dislodging a bird from it's perch. The bird survived the scare flying off to the left leading us to lose the flight of the ball. James' ball was underneath the tree despite us not hearing it hit anything solid. Did he hit a nest, did he hit the bird? We will never know! Of course if anyone did discover a dazed and confused bird elsewhere on the course, let us know. James, clearly shaken by this incident, forgot how to hit the ball and literally hacked his way round the course for the rest of the morning.
For my part it was most definitely a round of two halves. It seemed it was going to be one of those days when I managed to hit my second shot through the trees at the top of the second fairway, coming to rest near an irrigation box which I've never seen before, despite the slightly difficult position I'd put myself in I managed to chip on then sink a put to save par. James' "birdie" incident then inspired me to go on and finish the front 9 just 4 over par, certainly a record for me and this week only matched by Richard Hyne. I think this is the first time I've beaten James on a 9, he was 6 shots behind me as we teed off on 10! The back 9 was no less remarkable but for different reasons. Double bunker shots on 12 after I put a simple 3rd shot into the greenside resulted in 1 point on a 2 shot hole. I found the left bunker on 14 and managed to catch the ball perfectly sending it some 60 yards into the bottom bunker on 17 (see pic below) resulting in my first blob! On 15 I followed the trend set by my fellow early birders and hooked my drive towards the left fairway but unlike them appeared to fail to clear the bushes on the left. The ball was surprisingly discovered on the 13th fairway leaving a good 250 yards to the pin. I recovered with my trusty 5 iron, a chip and 2 put for bogey. On 16 my tired tee shot travelled up to the boundary line on the left, disappeared and reappeared, coming to rest on the path. I proceeded to shank my next shot into the bushes on the right of the fairway forcing me to lay up before the first fairway bunkers. I scrambled a double bogey. The 17th was a comedy shank into the trees resulting in me needing to take a drop on the edge of 14th fairway which seemed fitting given that I'd played the 17th bunker when on the 14th. My recovery shot of 100 yards came up short leading to my second blob. I managed a solid par on the 18th to close a pleasing and frustrating round. I conclude that playing in the sun doesn't suit me!
There were birdies today for Andy Simpkin (17) Pete Laurence (8) and Paul Gardner (8) Well done gents.
Our winner today was yours truly with 39 points which was mostly scored on the front 9 (25 points.) Well done me.
In second place with an excellent 37 points, finishing 9 over, was Richard Hyne. Well done Richard, an excellent score!
The front 9 went to Roger Gibbs with 19 points. Well done Roger.
The back 9 (and 3rd place) went to Andy Simpkin with 20 points. Well done Andy!
The Aldwickbury Shield next week, good luck those taking part and enjoy the sunshine all.
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