Diggle Trophy 29th June 2019

2019 Diggle Trophy 29th June

The Diggle Trophy Contenders

Dave Drury (86/17/69) has been a member of the club for just a couple of years and he rarely plays the weekend competitions . He was playing just his 7th summer round of the season and has posted his best summer score for two years dominating the Diggle Trophy and a stunning front 9 effectively setting up the win .

Drury started explosively and found himself an incredible 5 under after his first 4 holes courtesy of net birdies on holes 1,3 and 4 and a superb net eagle 3 on the long 2nd. ... he played the remaining 5 to handicap to post an incredible gross 38 to get to the turn at 5 under his handicap and a three stroke lead over his nearest challenger George Sainthouse , who had recovered from +2 after just 3 holes to gain 4 shots to the turn with net birdies at 4,6,7 and 9 to get to 2 under . Sainthouse managed to close to within one shot of the lead  due to a net birdie on 12 but sadly dropped two shots with a triple bogey 6 on 13 then dropped a further shot on 14 . Playing his last quartet of holes to handicap George finished in fifth place but can be encouraged with his display .
Our leader was also finding the back 9 difficult and a reverse on 12 left him only one ahead with the need to re-establish as he took on Alty’s most tricky group of holes . Once again he succumbed a shot , this time on the long 14th but his nearest challengers were also faltering enabling him to stand on 16th tee with his three shot lead restored . Although he was to again drop a shot on 17 he took a two shot lead to the final hole and he maintained his score to clinch the higher handicap championship by a single stroke . The handicapper duly cut Drury by 0.3 to a new mark of 16.4 after his winning exploits today .

Ian Cheetham ( 95/25/70)  is well known to the membership because of his unrelenting appetite for practise both on the practice areas and in the driving range where legend has it that he used his free £50 worth of driving range vouchers within a couple of weeks . ‘Cheets’ ( as he is known ) has had difficulty in yielding an improvement in his scores and has found himself consistently in the lower reaches of the ‘most improved player’ statistics but has always been capable of firing the occasional great round . Today Ian had a steady start to his round playing his first quartet of holes to handicap before he had a net double bogey 8 on 5 and a further dropped shot on 8 before gaining his first net birdie on 9 to find himself mid-table at the turn and 6 shots behind the leader . He had a rollercoaster back 9 where he had started steady before gaining a shot courtesy of a net birdie 6 on 12 to get within 4 strokes of the runaway leader but then blotted his copybook by crucially dropping two shots on the tricky 13th. when Drury had also dropped a couple ... Standing on the 15th tee he found himself 5 shots down and seemingly out of contention but he regrouped magnificently and net birdies on 15 and 17 meant that he had gained 3 shots on the faltering Drury and with one hole to play he was just 2 behind and with an outside chance of a most unlikely victory . Sadly for him , a superb net birdie 4 on the last gave him a 1 under finish but Drury had held his nerve to play the last hole to his handicap to hold on for the win . Nevertheless a fantastic effort by ‘Cheets’ to take the high handicap crown .
 

Matt Astbury (98/28/70) had joined the club in the winter and had started encouragingly , his highlights qualifying for the knockout stages of the Presidents and a top 5 finish in the 5 Club Shield . Today he had started well and a net birdie on the tricky first was a bonus ... as is often the case with high handicappers Matt found the par 3 3rd too much to handle and dropped back to level ... the rest of his front 9 was typically rollercoaster with the ecstasy of a net eagle 4 on 4 and net birdie on 6 cancelled out by a dropped shot on 5 and two going on the deceptively difficult 8th. which contributed to him getting to the turn at level par 5 shots off the lead . Matt was to again mirror those highs and lows in a back 9 that initially started with a dropped shot on the benign 10th but saw his second net eagle on 12 with a magnificent par that moved him to within 3 shots of the leader . Just when he needed to consolidate back to back reverses on 14 and 15 kept him 4 back and although he would regain a shot on 16 crucially a net bogey 7 gave it back on 17 and left him 3 back with one to play . A swashbuckling net eagle 4 on the last left him agonisingly one shot and in third place on countback but a fine effort serving notice that he has the aptitude and talent to challenge again in his future Alty career .
 

Defending Champion watch 

Your reporter Paul Hackett (92/18/74) proudly won the Diggle in 2018 and was desperate to put up a strong showing on the trophy that has remained his annual top target since becoming a member in August 2015 . Today he started with a steely determination to try to defend his trophy and he started steadily gaining a shot to handicap on the difficult 2nd then playing to handicap for the next 4 holes until back to back reverses on 7 and 8 dropped him back to the pack . A net birdie 4 on the 9th took him back to level par at the turn and 5 off the lead .
A further gain on the short 11th temporarily raised his hopes but that would prove to be as close as he got to contention as he dropped 3 shots on the next 2 holes effectively ending his challenge and although he gained a shot after a great net birdie 4 on 14 he dropped further shots on 15 and 18 which left him on 3 over and a creditable title  defence finishing in 11th place .

Gross watch 

Our champion Dave Drury with 86 was the lowest gross round of the competition ...

Special mentions ...

Nick Alderson (90/17/73) is one of the clubs best course managers and his skills were on show here . He had already tasted Diggle glory in 2014 and he got to the turn at level with gains on 4 and 7 cancelling out reverses on 3 and 6 . His back 9 started well with consecutive net birdies on 10 and 11 although a reverse on 13 halted his charge but still left him 1 under and he stood on the 15th tee just a couple of shots off the lead and in position to make his challenge . Inexplicably this normally consistent golfer suffered back to back net double bogeys on 15 and 16 to send him tumbling down the leaderboard and although he regrouped to finish his round with a net birdie 4 it left him on 2 over in eighth place .

Richard Paulson (90/17/73) had an encouraging front 9 where he recorded net birdies on 2,4,5,7 and a net eagle on his opening hole but suffered reverses on 3 and 8 with a catastrophic net triple bogey 8 on 6 which restricted his progress at the turn to 1 under . His exploits on the back 9 were more steady with him playing to handicap for his first four holes to retain his 1 under position and stand on the 14th tee just two shots behind . Unbelievably for the second time in the round he recorded a net triple bogey 8 to hurt his challenge with a reverse on 17 ending it . A defiant net birdie at the last meant a 2 over finish in 9th place with his trophy ambitions effectively destroyed by two poor holes . 

Today the higher scores showed that our beloved course generally bossed the vast majority of competitors and many of them could legitimately groan at a missed opportunity!