This week’s Open Championship at St Andrews, won by Zac Johnston, was decided after a four hole playoff (1, 14, 17 and 18). However the playoff used to be a whole 18 holes played the next day and in 1970 Masterton member, Paddy Greville and his friends were booked in to play the day after The Open, only to have a playoff between eventual winner Jack Nicklaus and Doug Saunders, intervene. Paddy and his group turned up expecting to be told they couldn’t play but were told that if they waited for the playoff group to tee off, were happy to play off the championship tees and paid their green fees, they could still play. After paying the 12/6 green fees they duly played a whole round, the highlight of which was a shot by Paddy beside the 17th green. Finding himself between the road and the rock wall and unable to play a direct shot to the green Paddy hit his ball straight at the rock wall, bounced ‘backwards’ almost over his shoulder and onto the green. The crowd of 30+ spectators, many of whom were ‘famous’ golfers who were making their way to the carpark after the playoff in front and had paused to allow Paddy to play his shot, applauded loudly! Such memories live forever.
Back in normal ‘golf land’ the Wellington Under 19 Strokeplay Championships were held on Friday at Manor Park and Sam Maree Brown won the title for the second year in a row. Her 79 in the morning and 78 in the afternoon meant she won by 3 shots.
Dean Gray was runner up to Daniel Hillier in the Boys U19 championship.
The vets played a stableford round on Monday in beautiful conditions and attracted an excellent field. Results were-
Women
1st Liz Waddington 20
2nd Sue Blathwayt 19
3rd Pam Sutherland 18
Men Group 1
1st Jamie Brunton 25
2nd John Whitehead 24
3rd Alan Sadler 24
Men Group 2
1st John Tatham 25
2nd Mike Inwood 25
3rd Hugh Blundell 25
The Fagan Ford Nearest the Pin was won by Mike Inwood.
On Tuesday the ladies field had an LGU and Putting round. Results were-
Silver
1st Jo Philps 74 nett
2nd Sereana Phillipps 76
3rd Linda Cameron 78
Bronze A
1st Jocelyn Pollock 75
2nd Lesley Stewart 77
3rd Trish Newcombe 81
Bronze B
1st Isobelle Weaver 75
2nd June Roseingrave 84
The silver putting was won by Sereana Phillipps with 28 putts and the Bronze by Trish Newcombe and Lorraine Stewart with 29. The New World Nearest the Pin on No 8 was Linda Cameron and on No 18, Isobelle Weaver.
The 9 holers had a stroke and nett round which saw Fran Stewart win with 37 nett from Geri Southey on 38. The All Teed Up Nearest the Pin was Rosey Wellbrock.
The scoring in the Thursday New World competition continues to be extremely good, even though the conditions are getting heavier. Last Thursday Bob Hill won the competition with 42 points from Dennis Hogg and Ian Buchanan with 40 each. Fourth were Kevin Mackay and Jack Forrester. The All Teed Up Nearest the Pin was Derek Clarkson.
Last Saturday’s club day was basically a washout with five men finishing their round.
This weekend, on Saturday, the men will play for the Men’s Foursomes Trophy. The entry sheets are up for the Baker Fourball (closes 2 August), the men’s 4BBB competition and the Cameron Trophy (closes 31 July), the men’s foursomes competition.
Off The Fairway
You can’t always believe what you read. A big thank you to John Waddington for writing the Sports Report last week when I was in Sydney (not on the Gold Coast). The annual trip to play golf in Queensland is, in fact, later this week, and 12 intrepid Masterton men are looking forward to not only playing Hope Island, The Glades, Lakelands, Royal Pines, Gold Coast Burleigh and, of course, Brookwater, but playing in a warmer weather than we are having here at present.