F Cox Memorial 1st. May 2021

Andy Mills (21) (20/22/42) has landed the first Board Competition of his Alty career with a superb display today .Mills started poorly , getting just one point from the devilishly tricky opening hole and then regrouped slowly , 2-pointing his next 3 holes before finishing his front 9 strongly , gloriously 3-pointing 4 of the last 5 holes highlighted by pars on 6,8 and 9.
Just one point off the lead on the turn for home ,Mills started steadily with a regulation bogey on 10 but made his move with consecutive 3-pointers on 11 and 12 to take a share of the lead with defending champion Matt Astbury .

On the intimidating 13th. hole , Mills had succumbed to pressure and his wild tee shot found its way to the 14th fairway , 80 yards from the hole . He managed to scramble a 1-point 5 but immediately regrouped courtesy of a bogey 5 3-pointer which meant that he had 3-pointed ALL of his 3 ‘2-shoppers’.A regulation 2-point 6 on the Uber-dangerous 15th hole trimmed his lead to one point over Astbury and Hackett . He played the ‘Championship holes’ well , parring 16 2-pointing 17 then consolI dated his victory with a tremendous 3-point par at the final hole for an excellent blob-free 42 points and a 3-point victory .

Paul Hackett (23) (18/21/39) had earlier indulged himself on these pages to share with members that he was (unusually) playing quite well . Today he has produced his highest Board Competition finish since his 2018 Diggle Trophy victory .Your scribe started with a good measure of trepidation , given that his performance on the opening trio of holes had been poor all season . Today , a scrambled 5 on 1, a 3-point bogey on 2 followed by a bogey 4 despite a poor tee shot gave him a great 7-point start and saw him in a mentally strong mindset . Consecutive 3-pointers on 5 and 6 (his first par of the round) placed him just one point have the lead but he was then to endure a pathetic end to his front 9 with only 4 points from holes 7 to 9 to finish with 18 points , 3 points behind the leaders and careering down the leaderboard.
Sadly , another lacklustre effort on 10 yielded only a point but he regrouped magnificently with a ‘stunning’ 20 foot birdie putt slammed in at breakneck speed on 11 for a welcome 4-pointer .Paul could only post regulation double bogeys on the 12 and 14 ‘2-shutters’ but spliced between them he managed to send a towering 5 Wood arrowing its way to the flag but it thumped into the bunker then fortuitously spilled out to the fringe of the green ... 2 dribbled putts fortunately saw him making par for 3 precious points .

After his heroics on 13 and 14 he truly felt ‘in the zone’ as he stood on the 15th tee , a hole which had badly damaged many a round in the past . A steady drive by ‘DeGea’ ( his faithful 8.5 degree driver ) left him a little further away than expected 30 yards before that card-busting strip of orangey water but could Henderson ( his newer usurper 12 degree ‘fairway‘ driver ) get him close enough to then go over the brook ?
Sadly Henderson only took him within 190 yards when , to his surprise , his usual ‘gung ho’ self was replaced by Mr Sensible Course Management who just flicked the ball 60 yards forwards ! His 7 iron 4th shot to the green was a flat trajectory effort that went to the fringe of the green 25 feet away . Amazingly, your scribe somehow caressed his putt into the hole for an unbelievable par 5 for 3 points to get him again within one point of the leader with just 3 holes to go .
Heartbreakingly , a bullish scribe was brought back down to earth with a sloppy straight tee shot that left him 20 yards left of the hole . An encouraging bump and run second to 15 feet was tempered with a dreadful 3-putt yielding him just one measly point 💔

Defiantly , Paul regrouped again with a decent 3-point bogey 5 on the penultimate hole and he stood on the final hole feeling he needed a 4-point birdie but ending up with a solid 2-point bogey 5 then leading the comp on countback with 39 blob-free points . Second place represents a fine effort for this quirky , self-taught 19 handicapper with the swing of a 54 handicapper and unreal expectations of a scratch golfer .

David Royle (5) (18/21/39) The Club Champion was another early starter today and he went off in the opening group with Messrs Rothwell , Grogan and John Cullen . Like many today he found the opening hole too tricky even for someone of his undoubted talent and he blobbed it 😮 ! 

After consecutive 2-pointers on the next 3 holes he began to take closer order courtesy of consecutive birdies on 5 ( a superb 4-pointer) and 6. Regulation pars on 7 and 9 were spliced with a sloppy 1-pointer on 8 which meant that he got to the turn on 18 points , 3 behind the leader . Such are the extreme limitations on low handicap golfers that David’s superb start to his back 9 of par ,birdie, par . on 10,11 and 12 only gave him 8 points .Unfortunately he was not able to build on that momentum and a sloppy 4 on 13 gave him just one point whilst regulation 2-pointers on 14 to 16 left him still slightly off the pace . He finished strongly with 3-point pars on the final two holes to post 39 points with only his frailties on 1,8 and 13 preventing him from possible glory . 

. Matt Astbury (19) (20/17/37) had won the midweek roll up a few days earlier and had contended strongly in the early weeks of the season despite the fact that his handicap is now several shots worse off than last season . Today , like many others , he found the opening hole too hot to handle and registered a blobby 8 compounded by a 1-point 2 which put him at the runt end of the leaderboard . Typically , Matt regrouped well with consecutive 3-point pars on 3 and 4 , then consolidated with 2-point bogeys on 5 and 6 then exploding into action with a tr of superb 3-point pars which got the defending champion to 20 points at the turn , now just one point off the lead .Clearly now ‘in the zone’ , Matt continued to plunder points and took his number of consecutive 3-pointers to FIVE with pars on 10 and 11 . Could he now wreak the same havoc on Amen Corner esp with the 12th his only 2-shorter ?
Sadly , Matts’ fire began to burn out as he could only score a regulation 2-point double bogey on 12 ( which still curiously elevated him to a share of the lead ) but then a sloppy 1-pointer on 13 further stalled his challenge .Steady 2-pointers on 14 and 15 kept him in serious contention but he finished poorly with sloppy 1-pointers on 16 and 18 spliced with a regulation bogey on 17 which meant a 4th place finish with 37 points but an undeniably robust attempt to defend his title .

Special mentions ...

Brian Nichols (19) (17/17/34) played in the same group as your scribe who can report that , despite his lofty position ,  rain was often tormented by the inability to get hose crucial 3-pointers . His opening salvo of 5 consecutive 2-pointers brought his imaginary friend , also called Brian into play . This was compounded on 6 when , after a great mid-trajectory drive brought him to within120 yards of the green , Brian inexplicably sent his approach towards the hole at a ‘bouncing bomb angle’ , the agony of his ball skimming along the water replaced by the hope that it would maintain its speed and force its way back to terra firms only for Brian to see it fail by millimetres to rejoin the earth and descend into the ponds welcoming evil waters . An unfair op , and one which  would see him get his only blob of the round .
Your observer is thrilled to report that Brian finally got his first 3-pointer on the difficult 7th and regulation 2-point bogeys on 8 and 9 got him to the turn on 17 points , 4 off the lead .

Brians’ expectations were sadly to dip after a woeful 1-point haul on 10 but steady regulation bogeys on 11 and 12 got him to the 13th tee 6 points back and in need of a fantastic finish . Brian responded superbly by scrambling magnificently to record a 3-point par 3 but that was to be his last hurrah , irritatingly maintaining 2-point scores on all but a sloppy point on 16 .
A fifth placed finish was a truly creditable effort but for such a talented individual Brian wasn’t his usual consistent self on the greens today.

Matt Goodall (12) (19/15/34) has had a slow start to the season thus can be encouraged with his showing today .His front 9 was blob-free with his highlights 3-point pars on 4 and 7 with his nadir the 1-point 5 on 6 . 19 points at the turn meant that he was just 2 points the leader and he was to make a magnificent 3-point birdie on 10 to take closer order but the capitulate to tumble down the leaderboard , unusually blobbing both par5s and otherwise playing holes in regulation to finish in sixth place on 34 points . His best result of this season and much to encourage this long-serving Committee stalwart .

Glen Rothwell (4) (21/13/34) was in the opening group and in the company of the man who took his Club Champion tag, Mr David Royle. Glen was obviously inspired by the match and he went round the front 9 in a truly magnificent 1-under-par 34 which equated to 21 points with his highlights a 4-point birdie 3 on 2 and 3-point par on 5 , He has risen to sole leadership after 6 holes then had been joined by Gary Shaughnessy as they reached the turn . But could he maintain this momentum ? Tragically not as he started his back 9 with a sorry quartet of 1-pointers. Although consecutive 2-pointers on 14 and 15 steadied the Rothwell ship he had slumped down the leaderboard and another 1-pointer on 16 ended his challenge , parring in to get to 34 points , 7th place but to go around our course in a ‘best in show’ 77 is still to be respected .

Gary Shaughnessy (32) (21/13/34) is a player who has the ability to operate at a far higher level than his current allowance of 32 strokes a round . He has not had a fantastic start to his season but can be encouraged by his 8th placed finish today . He had the golfing nous to record a 3-point bogey 5 on our dangerous opening hole , a rollercoaster start including a superb 4-point par on 4 tempered with the agonies of a 1-pointer on 2 and a horror blob on 6 . Gary regrouped superbly and he recorded a trio of consecutive 3-pointers to roar to the top of the leaderboard with Glen Rothwell . He maintained momentum with 2-pointers on 10,11 and 12 to stay within a point of the leaders but he couldn’t maintain his form , he 1-pointedc13,14 and 15 finishing with a decent 8th place which represents an encouraging effort suggesting  that he will revisit thsee pages sooner rather than later .

Peter Higgins (25) (16/14/30) may have been feeling a little ‘blue’ over his his 17th place finisbut he delivered a net albatross 3 ( net 1 ) on the 17th hole , Bravo Sir !

Blobster watch ...

Greg Hall , Andrew Moss and Brian Price were today’s supreme Blobmeisters with dishonourable mentions for Messrs Cawley,Cheetham and Dibble , all of whom I expect to grace the upper sections of these hallowed pages in the near future !

Overall , a day where our beloved course has again. held the upper hand with only 4 of the 46 competitors beating their handicaps despite the relatively benign conditions . Your scribe was thankful to be one of that esteemed quartet but reminds members that if someone with his very limited ability can be in serious contention ANYONE can ,😉