The Old Hall Trophy 1st September 2019

The Old Hall Trophy 1st. September 2019

Old Hall Trophy 

Old Hall Contenders

Keith Ralston (79/10/69) consolidated his excellent season with a gritty display to win the Old Hall Trophy , the ninth Board Competition of his Alty career . This years Bailey winner emerged triumphant maintaining standards throughout with few lapses . He started well and navigated his way through the first 6 holes blemish-free with net birdies on 2 and 4 but ended his front 9 with a sloppy reverse on 8 to get to the turn on -1 and just one shot off the leaders . He kept in contention merely by playing to handicap until lapsing at the tricky 13th to fall three back and seemingly out of contention . He regrouped and got crucial net birdies on 15 and 17 to share the lead for the first time and a regulation 5 at the last was enough for a narrow victory .
 

Owen Fallon (88/18/70) has never won a Board Competition but contended marvellously today ... he reached  -1 courtesy of a net birdie on 3 before consecutive lapses on 4 and 5 set him back ... net birdies on 7 and 9 sandwiched with a reverse on 8 left him two shots back on level par . A scrappy start to his back 9 saw no gains and reverses on 12 and 14 again got him down the field but he regrouped magnificently with gains on 15,17 and 18 to finish -1 and take an Alty career high second place .
 

Andrew Wood (86/16/70) was keen to add his first individual Board Competition to his 2017 Gyves/Gardner win ... today he started explosively with net birdies on the opening three holes then a rollercoaster finish to the turn with consecutive gains on 6 and 7 tempered with reverses on 5,8 and 9 to stand on the 10th tee jointly at the summit on -2 . Unfortunately he struggled and reverses on 10,12 and 13 sent him tumbling down the field . His ‘final five’ holes were blemish-free and included gains on 16 and 18 which elevated him to a creditable third position .

Luke Dunlop (86/16/70) has shown an admirable level of consistency since joining the Alty family ... today this precocious talent has again got to within touching distance of having his name on the hallowed boards only for those ‘championship holes’ to scupper his dreams . Luke made a solid start and produced a blemish-free front 8 with net birdies on 2,4 and 6 until a careless reverse on 9 got him to the turn at -2 and in a share of the lead .His back 9 continued his temporary golfing malaise with a net bogey 6 on the benign 10th putting him back to -1 ... another blemish-free 7 holes followed ( no mean feat in today’s conditions ) which included a net birdie on 12 ( our most difficult hole ) meant that he stood on the 18th tee jointly  leading and needing a 4 to take the spoils . Sadly the tough 18th proved to be his nemesis with a net bogey 6 sending him back to a 4th place finish .

Gross Best ...

Club champion Glen Rothwell (75/3/72) was justifiably on a high after retaining his crown just the previous week . Today he started well and produced golf of the highest quality with a stunning gross 34 front 9. Curiously the great man had started with a sloppy net bogey 5 on 1 but he regrouped immediately with net birdies on 2, 5 and 7 which meant that he got to the turn in a share of the lead on -2 . Rothwell maintained momentum with a further net birdie on 12 which put him in sole possession of the lead at -3 with just 6 holes to go . Inexplicably he was to drop one shot on 13 and a net double bogey 7 on 14 taking him back to level par and tumbling down that leaderboard with more angst was to follow as he dropped a shot at the benign 16th , meaning that he had dropped shots on 5 of his last 6 par 3 holes in his last 2 comps . The rollercoaster nature of his round continued with a net birdie on 17 and net bogey on the final hole leaving him on +1 but down in 8th. place ... it will be interesting to see if our Champion golfer recovers form on those supposedly easiest of challenges in the final weeks of the season but he remains an incredible talent and as a club we are fortunate that he chooses to play with us .
 

Defending Champion Watch ...

Nick Lewis (96/18/78) was both excited and thrilled to be defending the trophy he won last year ( tragically never to hold it in his arms due to it being misplaced or not returned ) . Sadly Nick suffered a catastrophic net triple bogey 8 on the first hole and never really recovered , consecutive net birdies on 6 and 7 not balancing out further  reverses on 5 (double ) and 9 to get him to the turn at +4 and well down the table . Although he recorded gains on 11,15 and 16 he slumped to lose no less than 6 shots with consecutive net triple bogeys on 13 and 14 and finished in 20th place .
 

Special mentions ...

Back 9 masters ... particularly difficult today in that the best score was only -1 which was achieved by both winner and runner up ... looking down the field I note that their efforts were matched by messrs Grogan (5th) , Thornton (6th) , Sainthouse (13th) and a rare mention for your reporter Paul Hackett (17th) all of us showing admirable grit and determination to best the final 9 . 

it is worthy of note that our beloved course did not yield a single 2 today , the first time this observer can find in recent times and demonstrating once again that our 18 hole examination paper is not always that easy . The attritional nature of today’s conditions may also have contributed to an unnatural high of FOUR golfers signing their cards for scores different to the reality with Messrs Christian (103/19/84)  , Grout (103/18/85) for obvious reasons I put him in the middle ) and Neil Royle (89/14/75) signing for incorrect scores whilst Tim Dibble (90/17/73) signed for the wrong score . It can happen to all of us thus a timely salutary lesson that it can’t be blamed on your partner ( DC take note ) but ultimately it is OUR responsibility as it is OUR card . As this observer (who would’ve easily qualified in 3rd place in one competition but instead had the angst of a totally avoidable DQ ) can testify I understand the angst but in all your cases at least it hasn’t proved to be harmful 🙃.
 

Highest Score - 10 

5 members shared the unfortunate accolade today and although Messrs David Christian (12th ) , Bob Kay (12th) , John Wilks (15th) ,Andrew Window (15th) had the angst of returning 5 over par the unfortunate John Rossiter completed his 7 over par 10 at the par 3 13th absolutely making him the main man of this sorry quintet .