JFord Club Championship Gross R2 25th August 2019
JFord Club Championship Round Two 25th August 2019
The ‘Big Three’ ( Glen Rothwell , Danny Miller and Glyn Richards ) returned to do battle in the final round of the J Ford Club Championship today and all found the opening trio of holes tricky with all experiencing bogeys early on ... I have given their challenge to be Club Champion due respect by chronicling their efforts at seven stages of the round .
after 1 3. 6 9. 12. 15. 18
Ro (+5) 6 6. 6. 5. 4. 5. 6
DM(+7) 7. 8. 8 7 10. 11. 10
Ri. (+7) 7 9. 10 11 11. 12. 13
Within a hole Danny Miller and Glyn Richards had reduced the gap to just one shot as they parred the tricky opening hole whilst Glen Rothwell bogeyed .
The champion responded in fine style as he birdied the long second gaining two crucial shots on Miller and Richards as they both bogeyed it ...
All parred the fourth but Miller fell to 4 behind after bogeying the fifth with Richards now clear in second 3 shots behind the defending champion .
The sixth saw Miller move back in second after he birdied the hole to find himself 3 shots behind as Richards bogeyed and the champion parred .
Rothwell maintained a 2 shot lead over Miller with Richards a further shot back in third ... holes 3-6 saw the two leaders maintain their position whilst Richards went further behind now 4 shots off the lead .
The front 9 concluded with both Rothwell and Miller gaining a shot to par whereas Richards fragility meant he found himself 6 shots off the lead and 4 behind Miller in 3rd place .
The start to the back 9 would prove to be the definitive holes effectively deciding the outcome of the Championship as Rothwell went three shots clear after a crucial birdie on 11 ..the following hole saw Miller carcrash his challenge with a heartbreaking triple bogey 8 on the long 12th whilst Richards dropped a further shot behind Rothwell but got back to within one shot of Miller .
With 6 holes to go Rothwell was now 6 shots clear of Miller and 7 of Richards and could effectively afford to coast to victory .
So it proved as the defending champion parred four and bogeyed two of the final holes to finish on gross 72 ( best in show for the round ) to finish ( 77/72/149 ) 7 over par for the 36 holes ) 4 shots clear of Miller , who had rallied again with 4 pars a birdie ands a bogey to pull back two shots but still finished four shots back after a 79/74/153 11 over par finish .
Ex-pro Richards could be forgiven for a lack of preparation( playing his first competitive round since April ) and had two pars three bogeys with the highlight a birdie on 17 … this meant that he finished with a gross 77 and a 14 over score of 79/77/156 .
All three golfers played magnificently to finish so highly but with the winner and defending champion scoring 7 over par it was effectively a triumph for the course .
In the end it was Rothwell who dominated proceedings … ‘best in show’ for both rounds to take his fifth title … the great man (and noted serial early starter) was noted anxiously watching Glyn Richards playing the last hole totally unaware of his stats for the day but in the end he has gloriously retained his title in fine style .
The handicapper was duly impressed with the champion cut 0.3 to 3.2 for his efforts whilst Miller was docked 0.6 to 5.8 as reward for his ongoing mission to be better evidenced by his relentless practice routine .
Special mentions go to …
4th. placed Sash Neersoo (40/42/82) who started poorly dropping 3 shots in his opening two holes and finished the front 9 at four over and with all thoughts of challenging for the Championship destroyed .
He briefly regrouped and made a birdie on 10 but bogeyed 5 and double bogeyed one of the final holes to finish on 82 which meant a cumulative score of 23 over which gave him a superb 4th place .
5th placed Matt Goodall.(41/41/82) started his round two shots behind Neersoo and he also made a sluggish start with 7 shots dropped in the opening 8 holes until he began to take closer order courtesy of a glorious 3 holes where he parred 10 and birdied 9 and 11 .
Sadly he was to bogey all but the 13th hole thus finished in a very credible fifth place. The long-serving Committee man has scaled down his commitments to the club after many years and he seems to be enjoying his golf more than ever
6th placed Andy Miehe (44/40/84) also found the front 9 more difficult than usual although he parred the first two holes before dropping 9 shots on the remaining holes to tumble down the leaderboard .
He responded well and upped his game on the back 9 dropping only 4 shots but failing to catch Neersoo by two shots . A fine effort by one of the clubs premier ball-strikers .
7th placed Norman Crowther
(41/43/84) joined Messrs Goodall and Miehe on +23 and he too started shakily by bogeying 4 of the first 5 holes … his intermittent bogey/par routine was maintained to finish 6 over at the turn .
His back 9 was a classic rollercoaster and included the joy of a birdie on the ever-difficult 12th , three pars , three bogeys , a double bogey and the extreme angst of a triple bogey on the benign 16th when he had fourth place at his mercy .
NB Sadly 2017 Club Champion Stewart Royle was unable to challenge for this years event as commitments meant that he could only play on the Sunday ... doubtless he will be a factor in the 2020 competition .
And finally ...
Special thanks go to our magnificent green-keeping staff for managing to get our course in such a great condition given the inclement recent weather .
