2018 Golden Jubilee Cup - 8th. July
Golden Jubilee Cup - 8th. July 2018
Mark Snape added the Golden Jubilee Cup to his April Monthly Medal in dramatic fashion this morning after a magnificent display in the sunshine . He attacked the course immediately and his birdie on the tricky first hole was the highlight of a solid front 9 where a blob on 8th restricted him to a 18 point haul which left him outside the top 10.
Everything changed on his back 9 where two further 4 point birdies on the difficult 12th and 14th helped him to a formidable 21 points on his back 9 to win him the Cup and deny a veritable posse of high handicappers on countback with the same points total ! The handicapper has docked him 0.3 to leave him at 5.3 !
Stocky Stockport-based David Christian (20/19/39) joined Alty back in August 2015 with your observer and after an unspectacular couple of seasons has enjoyed a stellar start to the 2018 major season . The F Cox winner was right in the thick of things again with a gutsy display . Operating at 22 handicap these days Christian blobbed the first but regrouped immediately with a 15 point haul in his next 5 holes including 3 pars propelled him into contention ! Curiously he didn’t manage a par in the closing 12 holes with the putter crucially letting him down but he was a model of consistency with just one double bogey on his back 9 to finish on 39 points and agonisingly close to a second major win . The handicapper has docked him by 0.8 to 21.0 which meant he has cut his handicap by a magnificent SIX strokes in just 10 weeks which a testament to his ongoing improvement !
Softly-spoken silver surfer Roy Jackson (21/18/39) also came very close to taking the Cup with a consistent display of 14 bogeys and 3 doubles which took him to the magic 39 points , level with Snape and Christian with one hole to play . Roy crucially blobbed at the hole leaving the cup tantalisingly out of his grasp ! The handicapper saw fit to cut his handicap by 0.8 to 25.4 !
Jovial veteran James Walker-Kelly had a fabulous front 9 and got to the turn
leading the field on 23 points with the highlight a run of 4 consecutive 3 pointers . The tougher back 9 would see him lose his way taking only 16 points which meant only 4th place on countback with his only blob on 12 ultimately decisive ... a splendid effort rewarded by an 0.8 cut to 25.5 .
Noted ball-striker Stuart Mason parred 4 of the first 5 holes to take 14 points and immediately put himself into contention ... he reached 20 points after 8th and could rightly look forward to harvesting more as he had the benign 9th and 10th following but inexplicably he blobbed both to fall behind ... Stuart bounced back in style with an 18 point salvo on the next 7 to stand on 18th at 38 points effectively needing a regulation 5 to take his first major since his incredible 46 pointer Remembrance win 3 years ago .Unfortunately an average drive then an unfindable approach shot into the rough resulted in a third blob and a fifth placed finish ! This observer expects more serious challenges before the summer season ends ! The handicapper saw fit to cut Stuart for the second time this season by 0.3 to 15.1 !
Special mentions go to ...
Alty GCs’ sartorial maverick Andy Window (22/15/37) is in terrific form with a recent second (behind this observer) in the Diggle and other strong challenges in several majors this season . He had a fantastic front 9 with a gross 40 translating to 22 points only one off the lead ... pars at 10 and 11 took him to the summit with 28 points and still 7 holes to play . Inexplicably he faltered with blobs ( score 9 and 8) recorded on both par 5s and controversially on 18 thus finished 2 points away !
Evergreen veteran golf stylist Ken Dixon strides around the course in sunny conditions these days immaculately attired and orange mirrored shades to boot and this regular challenger belied his age with a strong performance this morning . After a sluggish 15 point front 9 he exploded into action recording a 4 point birdie on 17 and also included a quartet of 3 pointers to post a ‘best in show’ 22 point haul back 9 for a 6th place finish with his only blemish a crucial blob on 15th. ! Only victor Mark Snape , your Diggle hero scribe and fellow vet Alan Longden ( all with 21 point finishes ) came close to him on the undeniably tougher half of our great course .
NB 2017 Golden Jubilee winner James Darmon was sadly unavailable to defend his title today .
Overall another comp which produced a very close finish with 14 players within 3 points ! With rain forecast at some stage this week it will be fascinating to see how that affects the course as we count the days to the inaugural celebration of that barrel-chested Alty treasure Bernard Wood 50 year membership next Saturday !
