2021 Captains Bowl 10th July

Glen Rothwell (66/4/62)

has produced a truly phenomenal performance to ultimately cruise to a record-breaking gross 66 ( net 62 ) claiming victory by 4 strokes from Captain-Elect Danny Miller .

This was Rothwells’ best round since his victory in the Monthly Medal Final in 2018 when he then scored a course record gross 68 . Today , he produced a flawless front 9 , highlighted by a net birdie on 2 followed by a gross birdie 2 to immediately take him to the summit of the leaderboard after 3 holes … he was to gloriously consolidate his momentum with further gains on 5 ( net birdie ) parring the other holes to handicap before getting to the turn with magnificent back to back gross birdies on 8 and 9 to post a gross 32 which equated to a net score of -5 which took him back to the top of the leaderboard .

He maintained momentum playing 10 and 11 to handicap then net birdied 12 to get to -6 but surprisingly now only in a share of the lead . Glen still kept up his standards and continued to par with a further gain on 14 … after a further regulation 5 on 15 Glen found himself again in sole possession of the lead but despite standing on the 16th tee at -7 , a 2-shot advantage was still not yet a decisive one with the ‘Championship holes’ still to play . After playing the benign 16th to regulation , Rothwell again upped his level to produce a truly faaaabulous back to back gross birdies on 17 and 18 to claim the gross course record 66 which meant a spectacular net 62 seeing him triumph by 4 strokes for his 21st. Board Competition.
His WHS rating was reduced from 3.6 to a new mark of 1.6 , now just getting 2 strokes on his handicap , serving notice of his intention to reclaim the Club Championship . On this form , he will undoubtedly start a warm favourite .

Danny Miller (75/9/66)

may still be in recovery mode but he is clearly coming back to some sort of form . The Captain-Elect is second only to his fellow ‘Hall of Famer‘ James West in Board Competition wins and his hunger for silverware remains undiminished . Today he has again reminded us of his undoubted talents after a mediocre start to the season by his very high standards . His front 9 started slowly with his opening 2 holes played to regulation then a sloppy reverse on 3 further stalled his challenge . He responded magnificently with a sublime net eagle 3 on 4 then maintained momentum with 2 regulation holes and again moved forward with a net birdie on 7 , spoiling  his decent front 9 with a sloppy bogey on the benign 9th hole to get to the turn at -1 , 4 strokes off the lead . He started the journey home unconvincingly , playing 10 to regulation but again falling foul of an easy hole , recording a net bogey on 11 to stand on the difficult 12th tee now at +2 , 7 strokes off the lead and tumbling down the leaderboard . Danny regrouped spectacularly , net birdieing 12 then had a birdie 2 on 13 , completing a trio of gains with a net birdie on 14 … after  playing 15 to regulation meant that he was now 4 strokes away with just the ‘Championship holes’ to play . Could he somehow fashion a challenge from this position ?
Unfortunately he could only play the benign 16th to regulation but he at least avoided dropping a stroke … predictably Danny finished strongly with net birdies on the final two holes to snatch a countback second place on -5 .
His WHS rating was reduced from 7.3 to 7.0 and will surely contend again !

Andy Mills (40/43/83)

 has again strongly contended today . His front 9 started poorly , with him falling foul of the devilishly tricky opening hole with a net bogey 6 … regrouping initially with a regulation on 2 , he burst into action with a flawless run to the turn , highlighted by a magnificent trio of consecutive net birdies 3-6 with another plundered on 7 and the other holes played to regulation as he roared to the turn at -3 , just 2 strokes off the lead . His momentum was unfortunately stalled with a sloppy net bogey 6 on 10 but he immediately regrouped and net birdied 11 , again going on a great bogey free run highlighted with gains on 13 and 14 otherwise playing to regulation to get to the ‘Championship Holes’ still just 2 strokes back. But could he claw back that advantage for a famous victory ? After playing the benign 16th to regulation he stepped up again with a superb gain on 17 but still faced that same 2 stroke deficit as he played the final hole. Inexplicably he succumbed to a net bogey 6 to finish third on countback in net 66 , a round that saw his WHS rating reduce by 0.8 to a new mark to 13.7 .

Derek Salmon (48/44/92/35/67)

is a new recruit to our membership and he was playing just his fifth weekend round of his Alty career . He remained inexperienced to the idiosyncrasies of our hallowed holes , proved at the opening hole where he spectacularly stumbled his way to a net quad bogey 10 . Derek seems a confident chap and he simply ignored that debacle and concentrated on the 17 holes remaining . He sparkled to the turn , incredibly fighting back courtesy of gains on 2,6,7 and 9 with his momentum only dimmed with a net bogey 6 on 14 meaning that he was 7 strokes back on +1 .

Salmon continued to leap forward , and magnificently continued to sprint up the leaderboard with a flawless five holes into his journey home highlighted by net birdies on 10,12 and 13 with his coup de grace a sublime net eagle on the difficult 14th to incredibly crown his comeback to -9 since his opening hole and -5 overall . A hard-fought regulation on 15 maintained momentum and put him just 2 strokes off the lead as he stood on the 16th. hole , by common consent the easiest hole on the course . Inexplicably, when in such a rich vein of form Dereks’ full swing betrayed him again and again as he gave up 3 strokes recording an awful 7 . A marvellous net eagle 4 on the 17th restored him to -4 which is where he finished after playing the final hole to regulation . 

A truly extraordinary effort that took him to a net 67 and an incredible 4th place … this gentlemen improved his best Alty round by 10 strokes as his WHS rating was amazingly reduced by 5.6 to a new mark of 15.6 and will undoubtedly become a force to be reckoned with in the near future which will see him playing of a mark 7 strokes less than today. 

Special mentions …

John Gleave (46/41/87/19/68) is perhaps best known as the regular partner of Dave Drury , who has won three Board Comps in the three years of their membership , whilst his loyal sidekick is still awaiting Alty silverware, despite winning a tough Mold event with his golf society . Gleave had not distinguished himself thus far this season , so must have started the round with little expectation . His front 9 was solid but unspectacular with him suffering reverses on 1,5 and 6 with his only highlight a net birdie 4 to get to the turn at +2 , 7 off the lead .

That 9th hole started his revival and he built momentum superbly courtesy of a consecutive trio of net birdies to put himself within 5 strokes of the lead with 6 holes to go . Although his momentum was stalled by a net bogey 7 on 15 he regrouped again and produced flawless golf on the Championship holes, gaining a stroke on each to record a very credible net 68 in 5th place . His WHS rating was trimmed by a very respectable 0.6 to a new mark of 15.8 .

Jason Denton (37/39/76/7/69)

It is an absolute joy for this observer to see 6-time Board Comp winner Jason regularly competing again … today he has again shown his class and contended . That said , he fell foul of the opening hole and stumbled to a net triple bogey seven to immediately send him down the leaderboard .The rest of his front 9 was a veritable masterclass and he played the course in gross -1 , highlighted by gains at 2,5 and a tremendous net eagle 3 on 7 to reach -1 at the turn , 4 strokes off the lead . He maintained momentum on starting the journey home , birdieing 10 to gain another stroke and getting to -3 courtesy of a net birdie 5 on 12 to get him just 3 behind the leaders . Unfortunately a sloppy net bogeys on 13 and 18 effectively ending his challenge , finishing in an encouraging 6th place .

Ian Cheetham (48/52/100/31/69)

&nbsp;</span><span>It is a mystery to this observer as to how this individuals’ hours of practice are not rewarded with a much lower handicap. Again today he has produced glimpses of his talent … his round was predictably rollercoaster with his highlight a net eagle 4 on 2 , backed up by consecutive gains on 5,6,7 but tempered by reverses on 3,got him to -4 as he stood on the 8th tee where unfortunate reverses on 8 and 9 meant he was -2 at the turn . His back 9 continued in the same vein initially stalling his round with reverses on 12,13 and 15 before a magnificent late rally got those three strokes back with consecutive gains on the final three holes to take seventh place .

Tim Roberts (44/52/96/27/69)

Tim is currently one of most in-form golfers both at the weekends and on the ultra-competitive Vets weekday circuit . Today he started superbly with a flawless -6 front 6 with gains on the opening two holes then extraordinary back to back net eagles on 4 and 5 tempered with sloppy reverses on 7 and 9 leaving him still handily placed on -4 just one off the lead . His back 9 started well with gains on 10 and 12 taking him to the joint leadership with -6 . His final 6 holes were truly compelling and he managed only one net birdie on 14 but sadly lost 5 strokes , a net bogey on 13 but a card-busting net quad-bogey 11 which savagely destroyed his challenge and dropped him to an 8th place finish … nevertheless this observer expects him to regularly contend this season .

Gross watch …

Glen Rothwell 66 - new course record , as described earlier . 👍🏽👏🏽

Defending Champion Watch …

Roy Dickens ( 46/45/91/17/74) 

Former Captain Roy dominated this event last year but has had an inconsistent campaign this season yet has had his moments , notably he had just failed to add to his impressive 8 Board Comp wins by a countback defeat in the 5 Club Shield earlier this season .Today he never featured on the leaderboard finished in 25th place with his highlights net birdies on 2,4,6 and 16 with a net eagle 3 on 11 the pick of his holes …

Overall , a day to salute Glen Rothwell , the best player of this Alty generation for delivering the magnitude of a new course record on one of the biggest days of the season . Mr Captain Stuart Mason and his team were tireless in looking after the membership and we responded well by delivering the highest number of players (11) beating their handicaps and had our best day against the course on a day where conditions were generally benign .