Provided by the President, and seemingly never published…until now
The President’s : 28th July 2018
The President’s is the 2nd most important event on the Tour Calendar, it’s the 2nd Major of the year and it’s always a monster of a day and this year is no exception – although for the first time ever, in 2018 there was a significant change… The Venue.
The spiritual home of The Warwickshire, have changed their Saturday
morning booking criteria for non-members. So it was moved to The Stratford Park Hotel & Golf Club, (formerly Ingon Manor – a venue where I have had some success before, including being 4 down to Miller over a nine hole Matchplay event – oh, how we laughed when I won the following 5 holes….).
Anyway, back to matter in hand.
We had a small but perfectly formed 8 for the day, the weather for the
previous 3 months had been scorchio, with zero rain. The Stratford Park Hotel & Golf Club breakfast buffet was excellent – although apparently the toaster was too slow(?)!
Teams were drawn:
President’s Team (Reigning Champions) – Pres, Noz, Mart the Cat and JP
Captain’s Team (Previous years losers) – Donk, Boycie, Bruce and PK
Donk and team were looking smug….
Under the revised format for the day – the singles and “Major” take place in the morning, with 1 Ryder Cup style point available for each match.
1: JP v Boycie
2: Pres v Bruce
3: Noz v Donk
4: Mart v PK
We headed out and the immediately the heavens opened… 3 months of zero rain, none and it now decided to slash down, with accompanying wind/gales blowing – we all ran for cover…. Donk, ran to the Pro shop and bought a waterproof!
It’s fair to say that the weather was changeable; sunny, rainy, thundery,
lightning and bloody windy at times, the course is hilly, the fairways were brown and rock solid. It was a real test and scoring was going to be tough – in such tricky conditions.
On the 2nd JP hit a monster drive – dead centre of the concrete fairway, downhill, 350 yards it was a peach, he hit his 2nd into the shite, but the drive was a pearler. (** Note JPs driving for later…)
I drove pretty badly all round, but most of the bad ones rolled… and
rolled and rolled – everything else was in good shape and for the first
time ever? No blobs. 41 points off 26, which is probably in my best 3
rounds scoring rounds of all time.
Winner, winner – Gammon, Egg and Chips for lunch. PK was a distant second, Bruce won the Dog and Donk the Shark…
Ryder Cup standings all square after the morning session 2 v 2
1: JP lost to Boycie
2. Pres beat Bruce
3. Noz beat Donk
4. Mart lost to PK
The main event was the afternoon Mutliball – 3 points per match (Front 9, Back 9 and Over 18) x 2 matchs, all to play for. The draw came out as:
Morning’s winners v Morning’s Winners : Pres & Noz v Boyice & PK
Morning’s Losers v Morning’s Losers : JP & The Cat v Bruce and Donk
The Captain’s team continued to be smug after the draw was made, (until they worked the shots out)….
Once again the weather was average, in fact a thunder storm hit on the 5th/6th , water-logging the greens – but despite the lightening and after cowering under a tree, at the top of a hill, we were simply having too much fun to quit… By the 7th the sun was out again and balmy English summer continued, (potentially until the MindTwist and Download – TBC)….
As always the format was excellent – both games being close and mainly requiring net birdies to win the holes.
In Match 1, The Pres and Noz won the front by 1 and had the sewn the back 9 and overall up (with a shot) on the par 3 17th. Match 2 was all square after 9, with JP and The Cat deciding to burn through the Cat’s drives and to rely on JP’s the down the 17th and 18th…. Never in doubt, this strategy worked like a dream – with Donk going into the drink on the 18th and Bruce going OB into the range. JP and Cat winning 2.5 – 0.5.
Overall Score: President’s Team (Pres, Noz, Mart the Cat and JP) 7.5 v
Captain’s Team (Donk, Boycie, Bruce and PK) 2.5
It was a great day…. Resulting in the Pres winning the President’s buckle of the first time and a famous team victory, to retain the team crown.
Thank you to everyone who came.
Yours, The Pres.
