2019 Bailey Cup Final 4th May
2019 Bailey Cup Final 4th. May
The Bailey Cup is rightfully considered to be one of most prestigious competitions with a maximum field of 24 players who had earned their right to compete through a series of winter qualifiers ... this year an elite field of 23 players did battle .
1st. Keith Ralston(10) 40/38/78 0/-3/-3 Alty’s renowned Balfour Cup 2014 hero started with a double bogey on the 1st but responded well and a run of 5 consecutive pars saw him back in contention at net 2 under after 7 . Bogeys to handicap on 8 and 9 soured his front 9 but he quickly and decisively regrouped and produced a sumptuous ‘best in show’ net 3 under back 9 38 which included 4 net birdies on 12,13,14,17 with no dropped shots at all to gave him his eighth board competition overall and his first individual trophy since his golden year of 2015 (when he picked up 4 board comps including the FCox, Gellatly and RAFA ) . The handicapper has accordingly trimmed his handicap by 0.4 to 9.8
2nd Phil Prince(10) -2/0/-2 The sole surviving Alty Prince has had a quiet start to the year and his good showing here was a welcome return to form . The Woodhouse Park based quinquagenarian started his round superbly and roared to -4 after 7 (parring all but the difficult 5th) to put himself into serious contention but a costly double bogey on the deceptively tricky 8 was a setback . He got back to -3 with par on 12 but crucially bogeyed 13 and then frustratingly played the final 5 holes to handicap to finish one shot short to finish second and be denied his first individual board comp since the 2012 Gilibrand . The handicapper saw fit to adjust his handicap by 0.2 to 9.5
3rd placed Paul McDonald(15) -3/+2/-1 Paul is another golfer yet to show at that early stage of this season who returned to form in this event . He had a rollercoaster front 9 which saw him birdie 1 and 7 (both net eagles) and 2 further net birdies gaining 6 shots but also dropping 3 but still leaving him leading at the halfway stage . His round continued up and down with a net par/ double bogey/birdie start to stand at -2 after 12 . A quad bogey on 13 put him back down the field to +1 but he fought back with successive pars (net birdies) on 14/15/16 to put himself -2 and joint leader as he stood on the 17th tee . Inexplicably he triple bogeyed the hole to fall back to level and a last hole gain vainly left him two shots short ... the handicapper reduced his handicap by 0.3 to 14.3 ,
4th placed Keith Walton - jr(14) +2/0/+2 The talented son of Alty’s supreme ball finder( Keith Walton senior) was a model of consistency despite the fact that it was his first competition for 2 months with him understandably slow to get his round going with dropped shots to hcp on 2,4,6 with just one gain on 5 leaving him +2 at the halfway stage ... successive pars( net birdies) on 14/15 meant he stood on 16th tee at +1 but a sloppy net bogey on that hole ended his challenge but still a commendable effort to finish fourth .
5th placed Lee Lomas(11) 0/+2/+2 started well and was -3 after 7 (highlighted by a gross birdie on 7) ... he then dropped 3 shots to the field with a triple bogey on 8 and was level for his handicap at the halfway stage to be 3 shots behind . Curiously he was to bogey ALL of the 3 easiest holes on the back 9 which contributed to a +2 finish but a still encouraging 5th place .
Special mentions ?
7th placed Stuart Mason(14) +2/+2/+4 was 4 over for his handicap after just 2 holes but the Captain-elect battled back to level after 11 courtesy of 2 birdies but then tumbled back down the leaderboard with a quad bogey 9 on 12 and it was ultimately his poor scoring on the easiest holes with 4 dropped to handicap on SI’s 15,16 and 18 crucial .
Bill Stopford(14) Club President BIll Stopford may have ultimately NR’d and finished 22nd of 23 starters but the talented and occasionally ingloriously combustible quinquagenarian started magnificently with several pars taking him to the top of the leaderboard at 4 under his handicap after 8 holes before a net double bogey put him back to 2 under at the turn . Stopford quickly regrouped with an important par on 10 putting him back in serious contention at 3 under ... sadly 4 shots were dropped over the next 5 holes and a catastrophic quint bogey 8 on the benign 16th. sealed his fate and it was no surprise that a NR followed ... a sad conclusion to a wonderful start and one sadly endured by many of us ...
Defending Champion Watch ...
Sadly our 2018 champion Bob Kay failed to qualify for this years competition .
