F Cox Memorial Cup 14th June 2020

F Cox Memorial Cup 14th June 2020

F Cox Memorial Cup - the contenders

Matt Astbury (20/24/44) is one of our younger generation members, shrewdly co-opted onto the Committee to oversee our Social Media pages with his great friend , golfing partner and huge rival John Thompson. Last season saw him show great promise without getting over the line in a Board Competition. After a massive 3.6 cut (following his victory in the pre-Board Comp just one week earlier)  had rubber-stamped his integrity as pursuing his handicap irrespective of the event his rivals could be forgiven to believe that his chances of maintaining that form to the extent of challenging for a Board Comp were much reduced ... a buffer zone 8th place yesterday showed further promise . 

But today , his undoubted talent has again continued to defy the handicapper with a spellbinding display in the sunny conditions . 

Matt started superbly highlighted by  3 pointers at the increasingly difficult opening hole ,4 and 7 with a magnificent 4 pointer on 5 as part of an opening salvo of 19 points which catapulted him in the lead as he stood on the 8th tee .

Matt is a big hitter and prone to the odd misdirection but his confidence must have been sky high at that point . The course fought back and saw him restricted to a point on 8 then a blob on the officially easiest hole to get to the turn with 20 points but now in a share for 3rd place with a need to regroup his efforts .

His back 9 saw him revert to his earlier standards and he never dropped a point to handicap with his highlights a 4 pointer on 17 with 3 pointers on 10,12,14 and 16. 

His 15 point blast over holes 10-15 gave him a solid 3 point lead but his 9 point performance on those championship closing holes left all opposition trailing in his wake as he cruised to a huge 7 point victory . His gross total of 88 again broke his personal best by 3 strokes and is now 7 better than his 2019 season highlight . The handicapper initially docked him 2.8 to a mark of 22.0 for his efforts but such was the level of his improvement that ESR ( Exceptional Scoring Reduction ) was applied which cut him by a further 2.0 to a new mark of 20.0 thus a huge 4.8 stroke cut in all . Just reward for an individual whose mantra is ‘practice practice practice’ and who personally credited his improvement today due to an enforced slower swing  to accommodate the effects of a ‘messy’ SD (socially distanced) party the previous night . He had also just  taken delivery of a new Ping Sigma 2 Valor adjustable putter which suited his Nicklausesque crouching putting style which has immediately improved his game !Amazing to think that just 2 weeks ago he was within one poor round of going to a handicap of 29 and now has a handicap of just 20 ! 

Sash Neersoo (17/20/37) is a self-confessed golfing nomad who has graced a few courses with his presence over the years and was in his second spell of membership at Alty. He is undoubtedly one of our best ball strikers and his talent saw him take 2 Board Comp victories last year . He has again quickly shown form , finishing 4th behind your scribe on his first post-lockdown outing on May 31 (when he recovered from a slow start to hit an incredible 5 consecutive birdies from holes 9-13 ) . 

Today , he started sluggishly , rescuing one point from visiting the brook on 1 with similar meagre hauls on 4 and 6 ... his only highlights on his front 9 were a 3 point par on 4 and birdie on 8 ... playing the other holes to handicap he had amassed 17 points at the turn which was 4 points from the lead . 

Neersoo played solid golf throughout his back 9 with a gross 39 yielding 20 points with highlights his trio of 3 pointers on 12,15 and 17 . As your scribe had the honour of being in his foursome he can testify that he was frustrated on occasions by his putts not rolling as directed but his long game and approach play was of a high standard . Maintaining  a top 4 position Sash stood on the 16th tee 4 points down and in need of a big finish to effect a challenge  ... sadly he could only score a point on that benign hole but the 5 points that he gained on the final 2 holes were just enough to get him up to a very creditable second place .

Roy Dickens (17/20/37) was another in-form player , having triumphed only 8 days earlier followed by a similarly excellent round that was destroyed by 20 shots played on the 2 par 5s . With a reputation for playing well in testing conditions with great course management , the ‘current’ past Captain and Committee stalwart started today in determined fashion (perhaps with reference to his poor early play in his last outing)  with 5 consecutive 2 pointers , a solid opening then  tempered with two 1-point lapses on 6/7 although his first 3-pointer on 8 ensured he had scored a decent 17 points as he got to the turn . 

10 was played to handicap but 11 saw him score a magnificent 4 pointer courtesy of a birdie that got him to within just two points of the lead as he stood on the 12th tee . Sadly a 1-point 7 meant a missed opportunity and he never again got close enough to properly challenge . 3-pointers on 13,14 and 17 were crucially offset by 1-pointers on 16 and 18 which limited him to a third place finish 7 points shy of the winner but a fine effort nevertheless .

Alty treasure Brian Cawley (21/16/37) was a player totally devoid of form thus far this season but he found  the stableford format to his liking and played a superb front 9 , highlighted by a 4 point salvo at 2 but with a couple of 3 pointers at 5 and 9 with his only blemish a 1-pointer on the tricky 7th . His 21 point total gave him a share of top spot and he  maintained that position as he stood on the 13th  tee courtesy of 7 points mainly harvested from a magnificent 4-pointer at our signature hole . Solid but unspectacular on 13/14 gave Matt Astbury the chance to go a point clear and a response was needed on 15 . With memories of his superb par on 12 still fresh in his mind all looked promising but he tragically blobbed to fall 3 shots back . BC immediately battled back with a 3 pointer on 16 but his momentum had stalled and a final blob on the last robbed him of the chance to finish second and instead leaving him the runt of the 37 pointers in 4th place !  On this occasion not a successful Chase but a welcome return to form ! 

Special mentions ...

Ged Grogan (21/14/35) for his magnificent blemish-free gross 37 which yielded him 21 points and a share of the lead with 3-pointers noted at 1,4 and 5   . Sadly momentum left him and a 14 point back 9 only had the highlight of a 3 point par on 17 . 

Carl Grout (14/22/36) Committee member Carl is currently in a period of transition between Alty and pastures new but today he recovered from a slow start to propel himself through the field with a ‘never nearer’ 5th position . Grout had cut his hcp by 2 strokes playing elsewhere the previous day and he was undoubtedly playing with confidence and good length off the tee without getting the points to back that up in a frustrating front 9 that only yielded one 3 pointer at the 4th hole and left him down the field on 14 points  . He regrouped superbly in the back 9 which saw him score 3 pointers on 10,13,17 and 18 and playing the other holes to handicap to record the second best back 9 of the day . 

George Sainthouse (21/10/31) was another individual who made a stunning 21 point front 9 start ( highlighted with a 4 point birdie 2 on 3rd and sprinkled with 3 pointers at 4 and 9 ) then sadly slipped down the field to finish 28th with a error-strewn back 9 . 

Jason Denton (16/17/33) Is our Assistant Manager but also a very fine 6 handicap golfer who rarely competes in our Board Competitions . Last year he only played in two of them so it was a welcome surprise that he took the membership on . After a rollercoaster  horror of two blobs and a trio of three pointers  in the first 5 holes he played steadily to get to the turn with 16 points . His back 9 saw him harvest 11 points from holes 10-14 but blobs on 15 and 18 restricted him to a 33 point haul and a very respectable 15th place with his highlights a stunning 4 point birdie on 17 converted with a sublime long putt from off the green ( which your scribe personally witnessed ) and a 3 point par on 12 . 

Best gross ...

Stewart Royle and Glen Rothwell both took 79 strokes today , finishing with 34 and 33 points respectively .

Defending Champion watch ...

Brian Nicholls was defending champion today and the intervening year has seen him lower his handicap by 5 shots to an impressive 17 ... today he played a solid but unspectacular round which had him blob-free but with his only 3 pointers on holes 1 and 16 to finish 24th of the 51 competitors .
 

Overall , another day where the course effectively succumbed to just one man who took the course apart for the second time in a week . Only 4 players beat their equivalent handicap of 36 points today , a reflection more on the inconsistent rolls and bounces of our greens than the frailties of our membership on this occasion .

That said , with the greenkeeping staff working hard to restore all areas of the course it would seem apt to call for patience and to simply glory in the fact that our sport , at our level , allows us to compete with each other rain or shine in spite of the virus which has limited us for these past 3 months or so .