Monthly Medal Final 5th. October 2019
Monthly Medal Final 5th. October 2019
Monthly Medal Final Contenders
| Name ... Scores at the end of hole ... | 1 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 15 | 17 | 18 |
| Stuart Mason (13) | -1 | -1 | -2 | -1 | -1 | -3 | -5 | -6 |
| Sash Neersoo (9) | +2 | +2 | +1 | +1 | -1 | -3 | -4 | -5 |
| Andrew Moss (25) | +2 | +2 | +4 | +2 | E | -3 | -5 | -4 |
| Norman Crowther (8) | E | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | +1 | E | E |
| Luke Dunlop (16) | +1 | E | -2 | -4 | -1 | +1 | +2 | + |
Stuart Mason (78/13/65) has put the seal on his remarkable renaissance by capturing his fourth Board Competition of the season and sixth of his Alty career . This cultured ball-striker who had endured three trophyless seasons has developed a winning mentality and today has produced a superb finish to power to victory . He started well with a net birdie on the opening hole and improved his position with a further gain on 5 , had his only blemish with a net bogey 5 on the deceptively long 8th and got to the turn at -1 in second place but 3 shots away from the lead .Homeward bound , Mason was initially unable to take closer order playing the next quartet of holes to handicap but nevertheless found himself standing on the 14th tee in a share of the lead as the small field collectively had found it hard to build on their score . He attacked the course and plundered net birdies on 14,15 and 17 to get to -5 and still in a share of the lead then snatched victory with a crucial net birdie 4 on the final hole to stand triumphant of the select 12 man field .
Sash Neersoo (75/9/66) is another golfer who is enjoying a great season with a couple of top 3 Board Competition finishes and his Summer KO Pairs victory with Ian Wood . Today he made what turned out to be a crucial lapse on the opening hole , succumbing to a net double bogey 6 on this innocuous-looking short hole with a deceptively difficult green ... he regrouped and played the next couple of holes to handicap before getting the shots back with a superb net eagle 3 on 4 . His inconsistency continued with sloppy reverses on the easier 6th and 8th spliced by a gain on 7 resulting in him getting to the turn at +1 , 5 off the lead . Sash immediately took closer order with a gross birdie 3 on 10 , added another gain with a net birdie 5 on 12 then lost momentum with a reverse on 13 to fall back to level par ... like the winner , he was to play the next four holes magnificently with four shots gained courtesy of net birdies on 14 and 17 with the highlight a net eagle 5 on 15 to get himself to a position just one off the lead with one hole to play . Sadly a defiant net birdie to get to -5 was not enough and he was to finish one shot behind in second place in spite of a joint ‘best in show’ -6 on his back 9 !
Andrew Moss (92/25/67) was the third player to essentially form a breakaway group that took control of the competition . In his case , he was to start badly with a net double bogey 7 on the opening hole , playing the next trio of holes to handicap then compounding that mistake with successive reverses on 5 and 6 to stand at +4 and near the rear of the field . He managed to get to the turn 2 shots better courtesy of gains on 7 and 9 then accelerated with a net birdie on 10 and a sparkling net eagle on 11 to join the leaders only to give away a shot on the next to be at level par now one shy of a quartet of players on -1 . He was to again plunder more shots with a magnificent net eagle 4 on 14 then a net birdie 6 on 15 now joint leader . He maintained momentum extending his consecutive gains to 4 holes with net birdies on 16 and 17 to stand on the final tee at -5 and requiring a net birdie 4 to win on countback . Sadly a net bogey 6 dropped him back to third after a fantastic fight back and his magnificent joint best -6 back 9 was sadly in vain.
Special Mentions ...
Luke Dunlop (89/16/73) has shown himself to be a very talented golfer in the few months he has graced our club . Today he has shown us glimpses of that talent although he made a poor start with a net bogey 6 on the opening hole . That was to be his only blemish of his front 9 as he played his way to the top of the leaderboard with an immediate net birdie response on 2 then later a stunning sequence of consecutive gains on 5 and 6 with the highlight a magnificent net eagle 4 on 7 helped him to get to -4 . Sadly his back 9 was littered with no gains at all coming home and with errors with consecutive reverses on 11, 12 ( net double bogey ) and 13 then more misery on 15 and 17 to tumble down the field to a finishing position of 7th place . It will be interesting to see how this young man recovers from this trauma .
Defending Champion watch ... and Gross best !
Glen Rothwell (76/3/73) last year equalled his best recorded white tee score when winning this event including an incredible 5 birdie blitz in 6 holes . Today he has finished in a creditable 6th place achieved despite having a sloppy front 9 with only one gain and 5 shots dropped with the nadir a triple bogey 7 on 9 . Thankfully he regrouped to complete his back 9 in -2 with a gross birdie on 17 with an earlier highlight a great net eagle 3 on 14 .
Highest Score on one hole ...
John Rossiter had a disastrous start recording a net quad bogey 9 on the opening hole then a net double bogey on 2 to stand at +6 and we can all identify when any dreams on the 1st. tee of enjoying a round ‘in the mix’ are cruelly extinguished after a couple of holes .John went on to NR on 15 and went on to have his first and only net birdie on the very next hole ( with the pressure off ) !
