2018 Wilson Trophies Pairs Aggregate Medal

18 pairs contested this years Wilson Trophy with light rain and swirling winds in evidence ...

 The uniquity of this event is that ALL scores count #doublemedal and steady unspectacular but safer play was the order of the day .

No surprise that Alty pairs 2017 Summer KO Champions Stewart (74/5/69) and Neil  (86/12/74) Royle were collectively ‘best in show’ with only one net double bogey and their winning score of 1 over for their combined handicaps reflects the attritional nature of conditions coupled with variable bounce on the fairways and greens . Stewarts’ excellent individual score of 74/5/69 was the second best individual score of the day ... They were both especially good in crucially posting a particularly strong front 9 ( gross 36/41 respectively ) !

The tightly bunched top 5 in this event were separated by just 3 strokes ... in this respect hard-luck stories were easy to find ...

Serial major pairs contenders Danny Miller (77/7/70)and Paul ‘Macca’ MacDonald (88/14/74) were second and just one shot behind ... a double birdie salvo on 9/10 by Miller had put them in pole position after 11 holes ( he was personally gross 1 under at that time after that superb effort) only for him to drop 3 crucial shots to handicap on 12/13 with Maccas’ unfortunate triple bogey on 15 proving very costly with a collective 2 over finish to handicap .

Mr. Captain and Brian Southworth were third and were a model of consistency but they were always playing catch up after they found themselves 4 over for their handicap after just 2 holes ( 2 doubles and a quad doing that damage ) ... they collectively only dropped 3 strokes to handicap for the rest of the round ( with Brians’ birdie on 9 a highlight ) !

Fourth place went to the talented Andy Miehe (82/11/71) and returning big-hitting golfer Howard ‘Bird’ Johnson (88/13/75) , who was impressive in his front 9 performance but sadly lost crucial shots at the three easiest holes on the back 9 . Andy played steady throughout with an 8th hole birdie his highlight !

Completing the top 5 , wily Alty veteran John Rossiter (89/19/70) and his partner Tim Roberts (100/24/76) were in a prominent position on the leaderboard after 11 holes ( their only major blemish of a Roberts quad on 2 levelled out by a superb Rossiter birdie ) but they tragically dropped 6 shots to their handicap on 14/15 which effectively denied them a chance of victory .

Last years Wilson champion Keith Walton (90/10/80) took on a new partner (given the unavailability of Brian Cawley) and was unable to find form unlike his new partner Roy Dickens whose superb effort was ‘best in show’ individually (86/19/67) and included 7 pars and meant they still only finished 4 shots off the winning team score . The unfortunate 13 shot differential in scores was crucial and highlighted the regular occurrence of one partner playing well and the other Scoring Higher In Tandem ...

Two other pairs suffered this fate ... lifetime chums and United luvvies Gordon Boardman (79/10/69) and Alty treasure Bernie Wood (89/8/81) had a 12 shot differential whilst your Alty scribe Paul Hackett (90/19/71) and rising star David Christian (112/22/90) had the angst of a 19 shot differential !