5 Club Shield 25th May 2019

• 5 Club Shield 25th May 2019

The tale of the challengers scorecards ... 

Mr Captain shot 3 net birdies (3,4,6) and a net eagle on the awkward 8th hole of the front 9 which was a magnificent response to his only reverse to handicap on the preceding hole . RD was only third at the turn at 3 under his handicap 2 shots off the pace . Starting steadily on the back 9 playing to handicap on the opening two holes he then exploded into action gaining 4 shots on the tough stretch 12-16 then played to handicap on the final two holes to consolidate his superb net 64 finish and take the Shield . Mr. Captain improved 17 strokes on his effort in this competition last year and this represented the lowest winning score since computerised records began back in 2013 . 

Paul MacDonald is a willowy but powerful big hitter with the capacity to occasionally play far better than his handicap . Today the multi-major winning PMD started steadily to handicap on the opening hole then net birdied the following quartet of holes to top the leaderboard early on ... curiously he net birdied holes 7 and 8 but crucially dropped a shot on the benign 7th and 9th to stand in second place at the turn 4 under his handicap . Standing on 16th tee he found himself at 5 under now 2 shots back but superb gains on 16 and 17 left him on  the same mark as Mr.Captain with a 4 required to snatch the Shield and celebrate what would’ve been a remarkable 13th Board comp of his career . Sadly it was not to be as a 5 left him in second place on countback .

Keith Walton Jr is for the most part in the shadow of his namesake father who has won 10 board competitions in his Alty career . ‘Junior’ is an accomplished golfer in his own right and maintains a handicap only 3 shy of his father ... today he began poorly , dropping a shot on the enigmatic opening hole but then responding magnificently scoring 6 net birdies on the remaining 8 holes to lead at the turn with an impressive 6 under his handicap highlighted by a birdie 3 on the benign 9th .

He stood on the 13th tee with a 2 stroke lead having remedied a dropped shot on the easy 11th with a great net eagle on the monstrous 12th .

Three holes later he had improved to 7 under and stood on the 16th tee seemingly in control but tragically he dropped two shots with a double bogey 5 which effectively cost him the title ... playing to handicap on the closing two holes he finished two shots shy of what would’ve been his his maiden trophy but he can be proud of his efforts today with a third place finish . 

4th Greg Harding (78/10/68) Solid Round including 10 pars and a birdie on 13 ... 

5th Matt Astbury (95/27/68) 2 pars and another player to birdie 13 

6th Steve Wilkinson (80/11/69) Solid Round from the former captain highlighted by birdies on 6 and 14 .

Best Gross ...

76/3/73 by our Club Champion Glen Rothwell ... 13 pars ,1 birdie , 3 bogeys and a treble bogey 7 at the last . If only we could all play to that standard ! 

Defending Champion watch ... 

82/5/77 saw 2018 Champion Stewart Royle finish 29th of the 41 starters ...curiously he dropped 4 shots on the easiest trio of holes but did manage a birdie on 10.

Other mentions ...

George Sainthouse (89/19/70) raced to 3 under his handicap at the turn with no dropped shots to handicap and net birdies on 6,7 and 9 . The veteran enforcer played steadily on the back 9 on the fringes of contention but was derailed by a quad bogey 9 on the tricky 15th to finish in a still creditable 7th place 

John Cullen (82/10/72) started well and shot two birdies (1,6) on the front 9 to stand 3 under at the turn but faltered on the short holes with a triple bogey on 13 and double bogeys on 16 and 17 to finish down the field . 

Tim Roberts 48/49 /97 had a 6 over par 10 (2) and a quad bogey 9 on 12 but still finished nett 72 for his handicap highlighted by a birdie 3 on 16 ... his best white tee score for nearly two years meant a 12th placed finish for this summer golfer . 

Overall the stellar efforts of the leaders would normally mean that they would incur a handicap commensurate with their efforts . Curiously , even though it could be argued that having 9 less clubs made the task even more difficult there is no provision to cut handicaps with this format ! You couldn’t make it up but that’s golf 😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮