Autumn Cup 2021
Oliver Murray (47/47/94/29/65) has recorded a round of 94 strokes (9 strokes better than his previous best ) that was good enough , with his official handicap to take the Autumn Cup by 6 strokes . He had been given a handicap after recording scores of 106 (22 May) ,101 (yellow) (4 August) and 105 (7 August) in his qualifying rounds then had recorded a score of 89 at the Ardencote GC in Warwickshire (22 August) before scoring 50/53/103/29/74 in his first competitive Alty round in the Old Hall trophy just 6 days ago . Today Murray had a rollercoaster front 9 with gains to handicap on 1,3,4,5,7 and 9 tempered with dropped shots on 2,8 with a net DB on 6 , an extraordinary set of scores leaving him in the joint lead at the turn . Further ups and downs were the order of the day on the journey home , with reverses on 10 and 15 countered with gains on 11,14,15,17 and a clinching net eagle on 18 which was good enough to clinch a massive 6 stroke victory as his main rival Tim Roberts fell away in the final stages with consecutive reverses .He is the newest member to prevail in a Board Competition for several years and it will be certainly be very interesting to this observer to see how his game develops in the immediate and distant future after such a fine start .His WHS rating has dropped significantly by 5.6 to a new mark of 19.6 .
Ben Haslam (48/43/91/21/70) is another new member to the club , teeing up in just the 7th competition of his Alty career today . This season the opening hole has manifested into one of the toughest holes on the course with the OOB to the left and a slightly over hit ball often resulting in a visit to the brook . Today , Ben contrived to start his round with a horror net quad bogey 9 to immediately put him at the back of the field . After such a shocking start , Ben would've been forgiven to lose composure but he regrouped magnificently, playing his next quartet of holes in -1 , highlighted by his net birdies on 5 . Although his momentum would be stalled by a sloppy net bogey 6 on 6 he immediately got that stroke back on 7 then played to regulation to the turn to get to +3 , 5 strokes off the lead . Haslam continued to climb up the leaderboard and he sensationally got back to parity courtesy of a net birdie on 11 then took closer order with a magnificent net eagle 5 on 12 . A further gain on 14 then a solid regulation 6 on 15 leaving him 3 strokes back with the Championship holes to play . Although he would narrow that gap to 2 strokes after a regulation 4 on 16 and maintain the gap with a superb net birdie 4 but could he pressurise the leader on the last round ? Sadly , Ben stumbled to a net bogey 6 leaving him 5 strokes back in second place and continuing to raise his profile at the club with his stellar performance today after such a horrible start to his round .His WHS rating has dropped by 1.3 to a new mark of 16.4 .
Tim Roberts (46/50/96/26/70) is blessed with an inflated handicap ( to this jealous observer ) and has maintained a good level of consistency in recent months . Like many members today , Tim was understand ably wary of the devilishly tricky opening hole and he was unable to get off to a solid start , an untidy net DB 7 placing him down the table . Typically Tim regrouped superbly , putting together a run of 8 flawless holes to the turn , with gains at 2,4 ,5 and 8 getting him to joint top of the leaderboard at the turn . Robert’s maintained momentum with superb consecutive net birdie 4s on 10 and 11 followed by a regulation 7 on 12 saw Tim take the outright lead by 2 strokes as he stood on the 13th tee but could he maintain form with 6 holes to play ? Sadly not , as Amen Corner resulted in in dropped shots on 13 and 15 sending him back to second place and one stroke behind as he took on the Championship holes … again Tim sadly could not step up and consecutive net bogeys on 16 and 17 to effectively finish his challenge . He played the final hole in regulation to finish third with a net 70 . It is a matter of time before this well-handicapped golfer opens his Board Competition account .His WHS rating has dropped by 0.5 to a new mark of 20.9
Defending Champion Watch (and Gross Watch) …
Glen Rothwell (35/39/74/2/72) put up a credible defence of his trophy today with a classy performance. His front 9 was played in just 35 strokes , highlighted by a superb birdie 2 on 3 and net birdie 4 on 5 with his only lapse a bogey 5 on 6 , leaving him handily placed at the turn , just one stroke in arrears .His first six holes of his journey home was less impressive , played in regulation apart from reverses on 12 and 14 which effectively ended his challenge and meant that he stood on the 16th tee 5 strokes behind .Rothwell birdied his second par 3 of his round to raise hopes of a podium finish but he gave that stroke back at the last to finish on net 72 and a credible 9th place .His WHS rating has been trimmed by 0.3 to a new mark of 1.5 .
Special Mentions …
Tim Dibble (45/43/88/17/71) continues to show improved form and he has again strongly contended today . He started sluggishly with consecutive reverses on the opening two holes and although he steadied things with a trio of regulation scores before again succumbing to a dropped shot on 6 . A net birdie 4 on 8 helped to get him to the turn in better spirits finding himself in mid-division 4 strokes off the lead . Momentum maintained with consecutive net birdies on 10 and 11 was stalled with a reverse on 12 but Dibble regrouped well , getting through the other Amen Corner holes without blemish and an excellent net birdie 5 on 15 left him 4 strokes off the lead with the Championship holes to play . A sloppy net bogey 5 put paid to any slim hopes of glory although he finished with a fine net birdie 4 on 18 to take that fourth spot finishing at net 71. His WHS rating has been trimmed by 0.4 to a new mark of 14.0 .
Brian Nicholls (42/45/87/16/71) , fresh from his recent Gyves & Gardner victory , continued in fine form today . Nicholls had a rollercoaster front 9 with gains on 1,4,5 and 6 being tempered with reverses on 2,7 and 9 to get to the turn at -1 , just a stroke off the lead . Unfortunately Brian started the journey for home poorly and stumbled to consecutive reverses on 11,12 and 13 to send him tumbling down the leaderboard. That said , he had net birdies on 14,16 and 17 (tempered with a reverse on 15) which meant a fine fifth place with his net 71 .His WHS rating has been trimmed by 0.3 to a new mark of 13.6 .
Overall , a day symbolic for the continued current dominance of our 28+ handicappers and tinged with jealousy from this observer that a newcomer could take a trophy so soon in his career but respect to him for his efforts on a day where the course only yielded 3 below handicap scores out of a field of 51 and the welcome bounce in the fairways helping the shorter hitters with the tricky pin positions and less receptive greens testing our short game with many of us gloriously failing that examination .
