Ray Gellatly Memorial Trophy 9th June 2019

Ray Gellatly Memorial Trophy 9th June 2019

The 2019 Gellatly Contenders

Nate Butterworth has won the first individual board competition of his Alty career and his second overall by producing a sensational birdie finish to take the trophy after standing on the final tee in 4th place .

He had a rollercoaster front 9 with the highlight a birdie ( net eagle ) 3 on the tough 2nd hole (with two other gains to handicap on 4 and 6 ) combined with careless drops on the easier 3rd and 9th to finish 2 under his handicap at the turn 2 shots off the pace . Further shots were to go immediately with a costly double bogey on the benign 10th dropping him back to level then playing the next 3 holes to handicap until a further drop on 14 put him 1 over and tumbling down the field . He immediately regrouped gaining 2 shots back after a superb birdie 3 on 15 but inexplicably dropped another shot on the short 16th to be back to level par and 3 shots off the lead . 

Whilst others faltered Nate again showed his undoubted class by parring 17 to get back under par and within two of the lead but with just one hole left it looked as if he was fighting for one of the minor places . Undeterred , he maintained his momentum with a magnificent birdie 3 on the final hole to post his second net eagle of the round to come from nowhere to take the title on countback for his first individual Board Competition victory . The handicapper responded by cutting him 0.4 to a new mark of 9.2.

Andy Miehe has had an encouraging start to the season with three top 6 finishes to his credit thus far ... today he made a slow start playing the opening two holes to handicap then dropping a shot at the 3rd . then regrouping with 4 pars gaining 3 shots to hcp before again succumbing a shot on 8 and regaining it in fine style with a birdie to reach the turn in contention 2 under for his hcp. 

Andy maintained his momentum with a second consecutive birdie to go -3 but crucially then  dropped shots on 12 and 13 ... he was to gain a shot on  15 and stood on the final tee at 2 under and in contention . He responded by parring 18 ( a crucial net birdie ) to finish at 3 under only to discover that Butterworth had beaten him on countback. Nevertheless a result that signalled an 0.4 cut by the handicapper to a new mark of 10.8 .

Paul Southworth (80/11/69) won the last of his 6 board competition wins over 10 years ago but today he was a major contender . His front 9 was played to handicap in that he finished it level but he gained on holes 2,4 and 5 and lost on 3,6 and 7 which put him in mid table at the turn . His back 9 was rollercoaster in that he was to go to 2 under courtesy of gains on 11 ( birdie ) and 13 (par) then drop back to level with reverses on 15 and 16 and although he was to gain shots to hcp on both of the final holes it still left him one shot back and record a third place finish. The handicapper acknowledged his efforts by 0.2 to 10.9 .

Stewart Royle (74/5/69) continues to be one of our premier low handicap golfers and the 2017 Club Champion was at his imperious best  scoring a magnificent gross 1 under par 34 which translated to net 3 under and only one of the lead at the turn highlighted by birdies on 3 and 7 . 

After a steady start to his back 9 he gained another shot to hcp on the monstrous 12th and he consolidated playing 13/14 to hcp to stand on the 15th tee at 4 under , a shot clear of the field and 5 ahead of eventual winner Nate Butterworth  .

Sadly his fortunes changed as he dropped shots to hcp on 15 and the benign 16th but fought back to regain a shot on 17 to stand on 3 under par and back in the lead . Inexplicably he recorded his third net bogey in his final 4 holes to drop back to a net 2 under and a fourth place finish with a superb gross 74 which was the lowest round of the day . The handicapper reacted by cutting him 0.1 to 5.2 .

It is a particular pleasure for this observer to have the opportunity to comment on one of Alty GCs great triers Brian Price (99/30/69)  .

Brian puts soooo much effort into his game and gets the odd lesson , changes clubs and is the owner of a classic swing . For some reason this does not often translate into a good score and right now BP finds himself with a 30 handicap .

Today was one of Brian’s good days and he kept his game together very well on his front 9 and found himself 4 under his handicap after the opening 3 holes to immediately take the initiative .

Consecutive net bogey 7s on holes 4/5 brought an abrupt end to his momentum but Brian immediately bounced back gaining shots on 6/7 and found himself leading at the turn back at net 4 under !His back 9 sadly was not as successful and triple bogeys in 11,14 and 15 meant that he stood on the 16th tee on level but he managed to par it to stand just 2 shots off the lead . Sadly a net bogey 6 on 17 effectively ended his challenge although a net birdie 5 at the last meant a creditable 5th place finish and his best white tee round for 3 years !! The handicapper noted his improvement and cut him 0.5 to 29.5 .

Defending Champion report ...

Tim Dibble (89/16/73) was level par after a steady front 9 highlighted by net birdies on 3 and 6 . An encouraging net birdie 4 on 10 briefly got him to within 3 of the lead but reverses on 14 and 16 saw him finish 5 shots off the winner in a respectable 15th place of the 60 competitors . 

Gross best - Stewart Royle 74 ( as described earlier ) 

Special mentions ...

This observer (Paul Hackett 88/18/70 DQ) has very little opportunity to get a mention in these reports due to his regular standard of mediocrity but today is proud to state that he strongly contended ... his front 9 saw him rise to 2 under courtesy of net birdies at 4 and 6 with no dropped shots ! 

A third net birdie on 10 took him to the heady heights of 3 under par but his first reverses of the round on 13 and 14 dropped him to 1 under . 

A fourth net birdie ( it sounds better than par ) and regulation net par on 17 saw him stand on the 18th tee on 2 under just one off the leader . Sadly a net bogey put paid to his lofty dreams of victory but that was compounded when he discovered that he had signed for the wrong score thus was DQ’d .

Moral of that story ... ALWAYS CHECK THAT YOUR CARD IS CORRECT ! 

Keith Walton Jr (87/14/73) ... an incredible comeback from KWJ who found himself 7 OVER after just two holes because of a TWELVE on the 2nd. ...he continue to battle and finished 6 over at the turn ... the rollercoaster nature of his round continued but amazingly he was to gain FIVE shots on his handicap in the final four holes ( including net eagles on 15 and 17 ) to finish on 2 over . Unsurprisingly the handicapper gave him the biggest cut of the day , cutting him 0.6 to 13.3 despite a 12th place finish .

Mr. Captain (RD) (87/16/71)

Much respect to Mr Captain who stood on the tee on the 11th hole at 4 over for his handicap but who regrouped and gained 4 shots back with his highlight a birdie 2 on 13 and finished in a creditable 9th place with the best back 9 of the day ! The handicapper was impressed enough to cut him by 0.3 to 16.0 .

Des Royle (109/26/83) was playing with Neil Royle (87/13/74) but marked their own cards which a drastic appearance to their scores with Des initially credited as the winner with (87/26/61) with Neil (106/13/113) down the field .Sadly both players were DQ’d . 

Thankfully this was spotted quickly and Nate Butterworth declared the winner and proving to us all that you should NEVER give up hope of getting that W !