Senior Division

Ryan Jones recorded the best front 9: +1 gross (translates to 31 Net). His back 9 was more volatile: 43 (gross) 2 pars on the par 3’s steadied the ship a bit after a couple of double bogeys. His biggest scare today non-golf related. A mistake in the set-up of the comp prevented him temporarily from recording his score (apologies for that). But in the end it all worked out. Peter Goodall’s birdie on 18th is the tie-braker between him and Ross.

Junior Division

Giles Rawlinson posted a stunning 65 Net to win the Junior Division. 43 out (32 Net) and 45 on the back represent an excellent day at the (golf) office. Mitch was another early starter who posted an excellent score. 42 (gross – out) and 42 (gross – in) are his magical number combination of the day. Richard Norden laid the base for 3rd place with an excellent front 9 (45 gross – 31 net). Chris had a steady round to take the last “Money Spot” in this division.

Midweek Grand Medal Trophy

A few players had chance of catching the leading duo. But Gina, Peppe and Seymour came up a bit short today. Tamas and yours truly finish in a tie. So the winner will have to be decided on countback.

A chill start but the sun came out to warm – nudging 19C per graph at bottom of results. This stimulated a stiff breeze affecting shots.

Women

What a glorious day it was to play golf. Hilary taking her cues from Spanish weather was dressed the most appropriately though I’m sure that most of us didn’t think so at the start when the autumn chill was definitely present. With the ball still running and only a slight wind scoring was good today and there is all to play for between you in the 2nd round next week.

Leading the way with a slender margin of 1 is Gina with 36 points closely followed by Avi and Hilary with a further 3 just 3 shots back – it could all change after next week’s round.

Impressive looking 2 from Gina on the 16th, a hole I rarely make the green on and definitely one from Seema, whose tee shot on the 10th was little more than a foot from the pin. Never quite sure why only birdie 2s are reported but Katharina had a nice birdie 3 to finish her round in style.

Men

Overall on the day Pierpaolo led the way 42 points but divisional results show:
Senior Division : Winner Justin B chased by Richard Back40 then Sal Goodchild-Way 38′
Junior Division: Winner Pierpaolo 42 from Michael H and Sean O’S 40.

Congrats to Richard Back and Goran for their eagles on 17th [per attached report that makes 19 so far this year]

It was a sunny but blustery day and the course was in very good condition, particularly the greens. Signs that the ‘fairway seeding’ had been effective were everywhere.

Our clear winner, with 40 points, was Brian Ransom, who could have had more if he hadn’t blobbed the last hole. It seems that having a few weeks off from golf was just what Brian needed, however it didn’t last long – he took an extra 14 shots playing the same course on Saturday!

Three players scored 36 points, taking the 2nd, 3rd and 4th places on countback. Chris Jones blobbed the first hole of the day but gradually improved throughout the round and took 2nd place with the best back 9 of anyone (21points). Elizabeth pipped Martin Hay to 3rd place by one point on the back 9 – Martin will be ruing his blobs on the 10th and 12th holes.

Sweep payout to top 4 (£8, £5, £4, £3)

Mild temperatures were met with strong/swirling winds. Fairways still provided ample bounce & roll. The greens were fairly receptive. But all in all conditions proved to be challenging. Unfortunately a  lot of the 9.45am starters were on the back 9 when the floodgates opened. Not too much of a stretch to say that the 7am starters enjoyed the best of the weather.

These conditions bring the best out of good ball strikers. So it is no real surprise to see Naveed take the win today. He took the saying “every good round starts with a double bogey” a little too serious. He DB’ed holes 1 & 2! He recovered to finish the front 9 with 17 points. But his excellent 21pts on the back 9 were just good enough to hold off the competition. Darren was another early starter. He matched Naveed’s mark. But his 20pts on the back mean he settles for 2nd. Looks like he made up for missing out on victory today with a pretty good tee-shot on the 9th. Cheryl battled her way through the rain to 3rd place. Terry Wilson – another 7am starter – must have fed of Darren’s positive vibe to finish as the best of the group on 37pts. Alex used an outrageous back 9 to finish 5th. Yours truly takes 6th. But victory slipped through my fingers with a 5-6 finish.  Since Alvaro didn’t sign up for the sweep he allows James to improve his purse balance. Tamas is the newest member on the “Eagle Tree” thanks to an outrageous chip-in on the 9th.

Early drizzle petered out as per overnight forecast of front a further 20 miles south than previously anticipated. Sun increased as did warmth nudging 19C.

Women

A close result at the top of the table with Silvia winning the October medal by 1 from Katharina with her nett 71.
With the Barton Bowl however, results were reversed in a quirk of it being stableford rather than medal. Both Silvia and Katharina had 35 points but Katharina scored 20 of them on the back 9 compared to Silvia’s 17.

Congratulations to both.

Men

Best gross and net of the day went to Roger Rojas – 71 and 63; well done Roger! Roger wins senior division of day followed by Bernie Mc 64 with Kerry and Brendan returning glorious 65s.

The junior division was headed by Gregory 65 with Ed and Cuneyt following with 68s.

Special mention : Richard Back – level par back 9 33, Raymond for eagle at 9th.

This was last round in best 5 of 8 Grand Medal Trophy. Timing his form to perfection Kerry moved into first place in senior division with Brian M 2nd 338; Julian and Goran share junior division each 327.