J Ford 2021 Championship Final
Danny Miller (77/76/153) has finally achieved his long-held ambition to be Club Champion today . Miller started the final round in fourth place , 6 strokes behind the leader Jason Denton with former champion Glen Rothwell (4 behind) and third-placed 2021 surprise package Chris O’Connell in the foursome starting at 0810hrs this morning . Danny started well by safely negotiating the opening two holes before an ugly double bogey 5 on 3 gave back to the leader the shots he had dropped in the opening hole . His front 9 was rollercoaster with him suffering more reverses on 5 and 8 but tempered with superb timely birdies on 7 and 9 he got the turn now only 4 strokes back and thus beginning to gently place pressure on the leader .
Danny maintained momentum by parring 10 ( a magnificent up and down ) and 11 and a bogey 6 on our toughest hole saw him keep pace with Denton and stay 4 shots in arrears . Further pars on 13 and 14 ( another superb up and down from behind the bunker with little green to work with ) slightly improved his position as he stood on the 15th tee now just 3 strokes behind as the tension naturally increased with just 4 holes to go . Although Danny slipped to a double bogey 7 , he saw playing partner Denton recorded a 9 ( and suffer a debilitating injury to his arm )to reduce the deficit to just one with just the ‘Championship holes’ left to go . Miller crucially maintained his form parring 16 and 17 and stood on the final hole one stroke ahead , snatching the lead after the leader had faltered on 17.
Still requiring a 4 to take the trophy ( and avoid the potential agonies of a play off ) Miller appeared to crack under pressure to put his approach shot arrowing towards a green side bunker but in danger of going out of bounds … thankfully the ball landed in the bunker but bounced onto a patch of grass adjacent to the flag . . That pressure intensified as he could only put his chip to 10 feet from the hole . With his rival having been on in 2 and putting his birdie putt to 3 feet , with the Club Championship at stake he stepped up magnificently to nervelessly convert the putt , which actually hovered on the edge for a couple of seconds before it fell into the cup for a historic victory . 24 years after securing his first trophy at the club Danny had won his 26th individual trophy , which added to his 7 pairs titles elevated him to the status of equal top Board Competition winner with 33 alongside his great friend James West . A truly fantastic achievement and a triumph for his perseverance , golfing nous and burning competitive spirit which suggests to this observer that it is simply a matter of time before he takes the record for himself . His legendary appetite to practice , practice , practice continues to yield results with his rock solid short game , honed over those hours of practice today he clinched the ultimate prize at the club for the first time .
Jason Denton (72/82/154) came into today’s round understandably buoyed with confidence, borne of several recent good performances AND with the added insurance of a 4 stroke lead over his nearest rival . He was not able to start well , a clumsy double bogey 6 immediately giving his playing partners hope . He regrouped superbly , parred the tricky second then served notice to his playing partners of his intentions with a superb birdie on 3 to partly limit the opening hole damage then consolidated his position with 3 more pars to stand on the 7th tee having now extended his lead to a massive 7 strokes and seemingly in complete control of the Championship with just 12 holes to go . Inexplicably , Jason then recorded back to back bogeys and although he parred the 9th hole he found that his lead at the turn had now been reduced to just 4 strokes from playing partner Danny Miller , who had ruthlessly exploited his mistakes by posting a couple of birdies .
Jason started well on the journey home , parring 10 then magnificently birdieing 11 to again increase his lead to 5 strokes before a sloppy double bogey on 12 saw him again just 4 strokes clear now with 6 to play . After safely negotiating the deceptively daunting 13th hole he bogeyed 14 to now see his lead reduced to just 3 … could he keep his nerve teeing off on 15 ? Sadly Jason sent his tee shot into the deep rough on the left adjacent to the allotments and uncomfortably near the brook . As he strained to get the ball out of the heavy rough he sustained an injury to his arm which he later explained ‘ made it feel numb from the elbow downwards’ … he took two strokes to get out of it and eventually stumbled to a quad bogey NINE . If it was a non-Board Competition he later disclosed that he would’ve immediately pulled out , but given the huge honour on offer he bravely elected to play on , now clinging to a slender one stroke lead but undoubtedly psychologically damaged by his misfortune . Although he managed to par 16 , it was to be 17 where he could not prevent himself recording a tragic double bogey 6 , thus handing a crucial one stroke initiative to Danny Miller with just one hole to play . Jason somehow found it within himself to again raise his game and ignore the mental and physical pain to superbly post a par on the last to ’ask the question’ for Danny with him requiring a 4 to win the trophy , but the Alty legendary winning machine was not to be denied even though he had left himself a 10 foot putt which he ruthlessly converted ( the putt hovered on the edge of the hole for a couple of seconds before dropping ) to keep Jason in second place and thus deny him a play-off . Denton was suitably magnanimous in defeat , ignoring his own misfortunes to warmly congratulate the new champion and acknowledge the great golf he had played to come out on top . A truly magnificent , if unsuccessful , last amateur hurrah for Denton , now rumoured to be entering the professional ranks in the near future where this observer is certain that he will continue to improve and showcase his undoubted talents on a higher stage .
Derek Cullen (77/80/157) is still astonishingly awaiting his first Board Competition victory but he strongly contended today . 5 strokes behind after round 1 , Cullen started sluggishly and sadly bogeyed each of the opening trio of holes to drop back to 7 strokes behind . Although he parred 4 he bogeyed 5 , finally finding some consistency to par the remaining quartet of holes to the turn which left him at +10 , 6 strokes off the lead . A fifth consecutive par on 10 maintained his momentum but a sloppy double bogey on 11 looked to have effectively ended his challenge . Although he regrouped well to par both 12 and 13 he stumbled again on14 and 15 but because of the carnage on 15 with the leaders he found himself now just 4 strokes behind with both the top two smarting from their quad and double bogey respectively . Could Derek make a late bid for glory with just the ‘Championship holes’ left ? He certainly didn’t falter on holes 16 and 17 , superbly parring both to reduce the deficit to 3 with just the final hole remaining . Sadly , Derek could not make the birdie which would’ve rattled the leaders and shot a bogey 5 which meant he finished in a highly credible third place , ahead of two recent Club Champions and having the second best score of the day . Much respect to him for his efforts today !This observer would be very surprised if he didn‘t win a Board Competition in the near future given his talent .
Special mentions …
Glen Rothwell (76/83/159) came into this competition as the favourite based on his recent record-breaking 66 … the former champions’ 76 yesterday put him in second place 4 strokes back and the question was as to whether the extra kudos of playing with his closest rivals would energise him to reignite his challenge and put pressure on leader Jason Denton . Unfortunately, Glen never really got going and he only parred 3 of his front 9 which left him in joint fourth place and now 8 strokes back . Could he somehow get back in contention ? Rothwell was truly impressive as he immediately took closer order , firing a superb birdie on 10 then playing the following 3 holes to par .Although he would lose ground with a disappointing double bogey on 14 , his excellent par on 15 gained a massive four strokes on the leader , leaving him now just 4 strokes behind with 3 holes to go … it would need a truly stunning finish to get truly back in the mix and sadly , Glen was unable to close on the leaders , dropping 3 strokes to par on the next two holes and finishing at +17 in fourth place . Although he has not regained his Champion mantle he has the consolation of his record-breaking 66 to sustain challenges for the remainder of the season .
Chris O’Connell (77/83/160) had been in dreamland after round 1 which saw his fabulous round of 77 leave him just 5 strokes behind . The question was as to whether playing in the leading players exalted company would further inspire him or be too much for him at this early age of his career . Unfortunately, he was unable to safely negotiate the tricky opening hole and a double bogey was an immediate setback … he was unable to repeat his stellar front 9 of yesterday and he was to again find holes 3 and 7 too much , losing three more strokes whilst an unexpected bogey on 9 left him now 8 strokes back . The initial sextet of holes on his back 9 was rollercoaster with his highlight a superb birdie on 11 sadly tempered with 6 strokes dropped on the other holes which effectively ended all hopes of a challenge but he finished his round well , parring 3 of the final 4 holes to finish in a tremendously encouraging fifth place on +18 and prompting some observers to mark him as a future champion .
Defending Champion Watch …
David Royle (79/82/161) found himself a massive 7 strokes back and for him to get back in contention he needed a great start . Playing in the foursome immediately in front of the leaders he knew that any forward moves would potentially destabilise the leaders . Sadly he started with three consecutive bogeys to further dent his challenge and although he regrouped well to par his next 5 holes , a fourth sloppy bogey on 9 left him +12 at the turn and his deficit from the leaders extended to 8 strokes . His hpjourney for home started well , parring 10 and 12 and an encouraging birdie on 11 meant that he had trimmed the gap to 6/strokes with 6 to play as he stood on the 13th tee . Inexplicably he would stumble to a horror triple bogey 6 on 13 and although he was to par 3 of the next 5 holes he matched the leaders’ card-busting quad bogey 9 on 15 which dropped him to a disappointing 6th place defence o his title on +19 . There is still much of the season for David to regroup and try to get back to Champion form but it was just not his weekend on this occasion .
In all , 30 members completed both rounds to submit a score and the best improvement was undoubtedly the 13 stroke positive differential of Dave Drury (100/87) whilst Philip Wright , who scored 86 and had the best net score of round 1 collapsed to a 21 stroke negative differential of 107 for round 2 .
This years winning score of +11 was one better than last year but new champion Danny Miller was the only member of last years top five to retain that status on this occasion .
Overall , the decision to put together the top 8 in foursomes undoubtedly added to the occasion and allowed a greater sense of occasion as the contenders reached their final holes , with the events of the 15th hole showing that it is never safe to assume a result given the unpredictable nature of medal golf whatever the talent levels of the challengers . The final result was truly historic and gave the winner the ultimate redemption after having the agony of a play off defeat last year .
