Open Weekend at R&CPGC

Putting Champion 

Once again The Open didn't fail to disappoint with all sorts of action taking place especially having to be finished off on Monday for only the second time in it's history seeing Zach Johnson eventually lifting The Claret Jug and writing his name into the history books. Even more exciting than what unfolded at St. Andrews was the R&CPGC Putting Competition, as people were finishing off their rounds from the Monthly Medal they were making their way over to me on the putting green while they still had their eye in and their joints were still loose.

Early contenders included John Tutt (33"), Ricky Hall (28"), Mark Rackham (26"), a list that stood firm for most of the day (we even knabbed a quick photo with John thinking his putt might be good enough), then from nowhere with only 20 minutes of play remaining the putting green was surrounded with competitors all fighting to take their place in history.

Amongst the swarm of late comers was Naz Gill knocking his 5th putt to 12.25", surely that was an unbeatable distance for a treacherous 50 foot snaky downhill putt across the entire width of the putting green? Unless your name is Terry Watts, with minutes to spare the reigning champ steps up and rolls a putt to exactly the same length as Naz's forcing a two way playoff, would history repeat itself for a second year?

The playoff was sudden death, closet to the hole takes the spoils and the bragging rights of best putter in the club for a whole year. Terry won the coin toss and opted to putt first. The question is who would buckle first? Was the prospect of certain fame and fortune going to get the better of these two great putters? The answer neither and no, both players held there nerve with putts of 17" and 17 1/4" with the winner and still R&CPGC greatest putter Terry 'soft hands' Watts! Thank you to everyone that supported the event and hope to see you all again next year.

The Open Sweepstake

After a nail biting Open Championship and several changes at the top of the leaderboard Zach Johnson sealed the deal also meaning that John Irvine won The Open Sweepstake and giving his ProShop account a lovely boost of funds. Amongst the overall prizes we had day prizes for the best amateur score for round 1 won by Richard Taylor, best senior score for round 2 won by Nick Grey, worst score for round 3 won by Roger Robinson & least amount of putts for round 4 won by overall winner John Irvine, time for a little spend for John I think! Please follow the link here to see where you finished in the standings.

Monthly Medal & Centenary Bowl

Amongst the madness of The Open and the R&CPGC Putting Competition we had the Monthly Medal & Centenary Bowl with 96 brave souls trying to recreate the phenomenal class on show at St. Andrews. The best of the lot was Eric Baker with a sensational 65 just snatching victory from Bob Wiles who also shot a great score of 65. The hardest hole of the day was the 9th playing almost 2 shots over par at 5.85 and only giving away 12 pars, however at the other end of the scale the 3rd hole was playing the easiest at a mere 0.64 over par with a majority of the players making par, 15 birdies and 2 eagles! Both Eric & Bob are playing in the Lifeboat Spoon this weekend so make sure you bring your A Game to keep them off the podium.

Senior Open Championship

Our very own R&CPGC's Brice Bowl Open champ, and member Bob Florence had a goal this year of reaching a scratch handicap with the idea of then entering the qualifying for the Senior Open Championship. Bob, after his scratch open victory achieved just that, he then promptly filled out the application form and headed this week to Burhill Golf Club to compete for a spot.

With a field of more than a hundred pro's and only 8 automatic spots available it was certain to be Bob's toughest test, but an amazing experience whatever the outcome. After 18 gruelling holes Bob with caddy Rob Osmond fired in a very solid round of 73 (+1) which consisted of 15 pars, 2 bogies and 1 birdie, leaving him in a tie for 7th place. This was enough to get him to a 5 man sudden death playoff where 2 automatic spots, plus 2 reserves slots were up for grabs. The sad news is Bob secured one of the reserve slots but wasn't fortunate enough to make it into the competition nevertheless it was still a fantastic effort and the club is proud of his achievement!