2018 Watson Trophy - 24 June 2018

Watson Trophy - 24 June 2018

Brian Cawley (87/23/64) beat his personal best White tee score by 4 shots to win the Watson Trophy ! The affable ex-squaddie silver surfer has admirably battled serious illness with a smile over the past couple of years and his relentlessly positive attitude has spilled over into his golf with a phenomenal (his choice of adjective) display . He was joint leader after a front 9 of 4 under  and amazingly only dropped one shot to his handicap all day finishing on 18 with his fifth par of the round to card a net 64 . The handicapper has rightly took a massive 2.7 bite of his handicap to bring him down to 19.9 !

Dual Alty GC and William Wroe Vets Captain Bob Kay (79/13/66)

continues to routinely keep a high standard of golf with a superb net 66 . The Captain Captain was 3 under for his front 9 including 6 consecutive pars and maintained his form throughout with 11 pars in all but crucially dropped shots to handicap on 2 of the easiest holes together with a double bogey on the tricky 15th that ultimately prevented him from an even stronger challenge  ... nevertheless a fantastic effort that would’ve been enough to win most majors thwarted by fellow senior Cawleys’ dominant display .

The dual Captain was trimmed by 1.2 to 11.7 by the handicapper for his efforts .

Howard ‘Bird’ Johnson (82/13/69) continues in good form and he produced a consistent round with only 3 shots dropped to handicap all day .  The handicapper has accordingly cut him 0.5 to 12.1 .

The fact that only 3 of the 44 competitors recorded sub par rounds showed the level of difficultyin evidence  to deal with conditions with uneven bounce and tricky greens throughout with the hot weather and hardening fairways a tricky proposition for players .

4th placed Ken Flatters (93/22/71) was 4 over after his front 9 but produced a ‘best in show’ back 9 43 ( 4 under his handicap ) to finish level par . 

Colin Okell (99/28/71) made his Alty GC debut in this event and has started impressively with a solid round and was handily placed at 2 under his handicap at the turn but although he faltered slightly in his back 9 a fifth place finish augurs well for the future . 

 6th placed Alty maverick Andrew Window (91/19/72) had 4 triple bogeys in his round but still recorded a net 72 .

Club champion Stewart Royle had a poor front 9 ( by his high standards ) leaving him 3 over for his handicap but he was one of only 6 players to beat his handicap for the back 9 with a gross 38 (1 under his handicap) to finish 7th. 

An honourable mention for William Hill (104/24/80) who was actually joint leader with Brian Cawley after 9 after a superb 4 under front 9 43 ( including a gross birdie and quad bogey ) then inexplicably lost form spectacularly with a back 9 taking 61 shots (13 over his handicap) !