2019 Wilson Trophies 15th June 2019

2019 Wilson Trophies 15th June 2019

The Wilson Trophies Contenders

Mark Caffrey ( 81/15/66) & John Hogan (82/10/72) have prevailed on an attritional day at Alty where they were one of only two pairs to finish under their handicaps .

Caffrey is celebrating his third pairs and 8th overall board competition with Hogan taking his  9th pairs and 17th overall board competition to surely step closer to legendary status .

The pairs’ front 9 was extremely solid but rollercoaster with Caffrey contributing no less than 5 net birdies with no-nonsense Hogan’s’ highlight a birdie 3 on the 6th. (and 3 further gains on 2,4 and 7 ) with the nadir both players dropping a shot to hcp on the long 5th. 

The duo finished the front 9 3 under and thus in control of the competition ... however they dropped two shots on the placid 10th then succumbed three more  on 12 to find themselves now a shot back of the lead . Over the next three holes they regrouped and got themselves back under their handicap but stood on the 16th tee a further shot behind courtesy of their rivals picking up two shots .

Faced with this deficit the pair stalled again on the benign 16h courtesy of a Hogan bogey but rallied again to play the last two holes 3 better than their handicap to finish on a superb closing effort of 138 ( 4 under par for their handicaps ) and finish 3 shots clear of the Hackett/ Christian combo . A fantastic effort by two of our best ball strikers . 

Caffrey (40/41/81/15/66) used  his higher 15 handicap to stunning effect by posting a magnificent net 66 ( second best individual contribution of the day ) whilst Hogan (39/43/82/10/72) defied intermittent flaws in his game to still finish on net 72 and was a crucial support to his partner  .

David Christian (93/22/71) and your reporter Paul Hackett (88/18/70) have shown form in pairs events over the past couple of years reaching the 2018 Summer KO finals and the semifinals of this years Winter KO .

Today ( on reflection ) they went into this competition with two completely different mindsets ... your reporter elected to try to play safely-first percentage golf thus minimising the risk of any disasters . David Christian ( as befitted his status as one of the clubs most improved golfers ) went for the more swashbuckling approach .

Despite your reporters’  pleas for him to play in a more restrained way in a pre-round team talk , Christian was going for broke on most of his shots ( irrespective of the tariff of difficulty ) ... after they both played the tricky first to handicap , DC went hard at his tee shot on 2 and that started an ‘adventure’ on that hole where he dropped 3 shots on his handicap to record a card-busting 9 and with yours truly succumbing to what would be his only shot to hcp of the round with a 6 it meant they were already 4 over after just 2 holes . 

Another discussion with DC was in order and together they gradually recovered their position for the rest of the front 9 with DC contributing 2 net birdies (on 5,6) with your reporters sole gain coming at the 9th which put them at +1 and 4 shots from the leaders .

DC again showed his talents with back to back net birdies on 10 and 11 whilst his partner played to hcp ... sadly on the long 12th DC again lapsed to a net bogey 8 but because of leader lapses they were catapulted to joint leadership as they stood on the intimidating 13th tee . Your reporter responded by getting his second gain of the round to consolidate their position and a wonderful net birdie 5 on 15 by DC propelled the pair to 3 under and a two shot lead . 

With the pressure truly on your reporter managed to maintain his game play playing the final three holes to handicap ( but missing ALL his net birdie chances )  whilst DC (who had contributed 5 net birdies earlier in the round) dropped a shot on 16 and a net double bogey 7 on the following hole crucially put them now 2 behind and back to level par . He  was to end his campaign with a magnificent 6th net birdie 4 at the last ( with your reporter clocking up his 15th net par  ) but it was not enough and they finished in second place at 1 under par and 3 shots behind the winners which was nevertheless a fine effort . 

Pail MacDonald (82/15/67) and Club Champion Glen Rothwell (78/3/75) were a formidable pair to challenge for the trophies with 28 board competitions between them . 

Frustratingly they got off to a poor start with both players dropping shots on the opening three holes and thus standing on the 4th tee down the field at 3 over ... whilst Macca regrouped magnificently over the next 9 holes ( 5 net birdies with a net eagle 2 on the 13th ) Rothwell steadied apart from a net double bogey 6 on the 6th with gains on 12 and 13 to propel them to 2 under as they stood on the 14th tee with a one shot lead over the field . 

Sadly McDonald dropped two shots at the hole and Rothwell spliced uncharacteristic net bogeys on 16 and 18 with a net birdie 3 on 17 ... Macca played the final three holes in 1 under to jointly finish on net par 142 and a third place finish .

Overall an absorbing days golf with the lead changing hands several times before the winners pulled clear . 

Defending Champion(s) watch ...

Sadly Neil and Stewart Royle were unable to defend their title today.

Gross Watch ...

Rothwell and MacDonald gross 160 was best in show today .

Special Mentions ...

Golfing stylists Ian Wood and Sash Neersoo came into the competition in good form and Wood had shot a magnificent 78/12/66 to finish 3rd in the Geoff Gibson only two weeks earlier . 

Neersoo maintained and consolidated his form in the front 9 completing his front 9 38/4/34 at 1 under whereas Wood was strangely out of sorts and his 47/5/42 had no gains to handicap with consecutive triple bogeys on 3 and 4 to leave them well back at 6 over .

Sash (73/9/64) cracked 2 net birdie 3s (11,18) and 2 net eagle 3s on 14 and 17 to complete the best round of the day ( and the best white tee competitive round of his Alty career ) but sadly Wood (95/11/84)  was unable to match his partner and had 6 net bogeys again with no gains in an error strewn back 9 ( ironically his worst ever white tee competitive round ( by six shots ) of his Alty history . A true example of how Scoring High In Tandem can be taken to its extreme .

Their joint score of 84/64/148 represented an unbelievable TWENTY shot differential between their net scores but still saw them finish in 6th place of the 26 pairs .

Other frustratingly huge differentials were to be found in the following pairs with one of them also Scoring High In Tandem  ...

Cheetham(110/25/85) Window ( 85/17/68)

Snape (86/6/80) Ralston ( 77/10/67)

Lets hope that these pairs return stronger after such traumas !