Saturday 19th May 2018 saw the return for of the Brissle, hosted as ever by Rob. The long trip south to Thornbury golf club was made easier by some great golfing weather, the sun was out and that meant shorts were the order of the day. Fresh from a win at the PK PR Skins event I was feeling good and optimistic on my chances of back to back tour wins, but I was cut down from 21 to 20. Jon was also talking up him fine run of form he’d been having in non WHV events, I knew today was going to be tough playing on a new track and bandits like Best Ever TD in the event.
Attending the 2018 Brissle: PK, Jon, Donk, Pres, Boyce, Former KOTS, Millers, Rob & Noz, a strong field I think you would agree? Thornbury golf was looking good in the sunshine with a lovely downhill driving hole to open. Jon, Pres & Former KOTS were in the first group, all teed it down the left of the hole, and importantly no one lost their ball. The second group included me (PK), Millers and Rob. For some reason Rob had only turned up with half his clubs again, an embarrassing trip to pro shop was the order of the day. We all got off the tee nicely, even Rob was hitting is 3 wood like a dream. The final group included Donk, Boyce & Noz, the only tee shot seen was from Donk which landed in the ditch on the right of the fairway an unlucky start.
We soon found out that Thornbury golf club doesn’t believe in sand filled bunkers! To say they had a lack of sand in them would be generous. No one in our group got off to a good start on the first with everyone scoring a 6, only Noz managed to score heavy with a birdie 4! The group was playing steady golf; we were averaging 2 points a hole and even saw a Millers chip in on the 2nd hole to save his par. He said something about watch a chipping lesson on sky golf that week, he put it down to his new improved technique, I think he just got lucky. Rob made a dash for the toilet on the 3rd tee and returned some 5 pounds light. The 4th hole I could feel my game coming together, the driver was on fine form and going long. So long in fact that me and Miller managed to drive the Par four 7th green while still occupied by Former KOTS, Jon and Pres, I would do this again later in the day. Former KOTS took exception to this and kicked our balls off the green with a few hand gestures thrown in. Thankfully he used his tiny brain and marked the balls first, you shouldn’t penalise the big hitters like me and Millers. Rob was falling off the pace a bit with a few non scoring holes beginning to appear, we finished the front 9 in fine form posting scores of PK: 20, Millers: 19 and Rob: 16. The group behind posting good front 9 scores of Noz: 18, Boyce: 19 & Donk: 17 all very close. The first group out Jon: 22, Former KOTS: 21 & Pres: 17 again all very close. Jon our front 9 leader.
The back 9 is where my game comes together, I had millers hot on my heels talking a good game and trying to get into my head. The only way to sort him out was to score 18 points in the first 6 holes of the back 9. He couldn’t live with that sort of scoring and quickly dropped off the pace. Rob continued to play well, with some solid ball striking. I somehow managed to blob the 16th hole, missing a short putt for a point. At last the 18th hole had arrived, I knew I was on for a good score so a straight long drive was order of the day. I managed to get on the green in 3 and scrambled another 3 points. Millers had a blob after sending both his tee shots OOB down the left, by this point his game had fallen apart. Rob managed to par the hole as well and pick up 3 points. We finished the round with: PK 43, Millers 33 & Rob 33. The group in front were very eager to know how we had all scored. You know some big scores must have been posted. I informed Former KOTS and Jon of my 43 points, there poor little faces dropped and they knew from that moment the challenge for the first major of the year was over. Former KOTS finished on 41, Jon 40 and Pres 26, on another day 40 points or more would easily win but not today. The last group in posted some tidy scores as well: Donk:27, Boyce 41 and Noz 36. No one won the shark and Noz won the Dog.
The final scores were all in we finished as follows: Pres 26, Donk 27, Millers 33, Rob 33, Noz 36, Jon 40, Gregs 41, Boyce 41 & PK 43. My second tour victory of the season was mine!
