Ali Hood reports on a day of sunshine and good golf:
It was pretty much perfect conditions at Thornbury with soft, receptive greens, no wind & the sun shining which was reflected in some very good scoring generally – although the recent course maintenance on the par 3 made the greens something of a lottery
We had 17 players so once again the event was well supported & was hopefully enjoyed by everyone which was a mix of former & current players with roughly 50 years separating the oldest & youngest competitors ages!
Overall winners – Jonny Sykes & Connor Jones both with an excellent 74 points
Closely followed by Steve Owen, Colin Fletcher & Jon Hood
Jonny scored 28 points on the front 9 & had got to 40 by the 13th before a few stumbles on the final few holes as either or both fatigue & the pressure kicked in but still came in with a fantastic 45 points to go with 29 from the par 3 earlier.
Connor was a little more consistent across the two rounds scoring 39 on par 3 & 35 on the main course – including a near hole in 1 on the 12th but it spun back from the hole.
A play off on the putting green was proposed but both had sat down with a beer by this point so were less than keen & agreed to share the ‘trophy’
Main course best score Jonny (45 points!!), Guy Fisher, Steve & Jon H all achieved 40 plus points
Par 3 winners Connor, Frank & Gordon Ladd – 39 points. Followed by Fletch 38 & several others with 35 or more
Longest drive on the 13th – Guy (most people failed to keep it in the narrow fairway on the 13th)
Nearest the pin on the 6th – Jonny (he really did have a day out on the main course)
Number of balls lost in the trees, bushes & water – several dozen (Matt Owen playing Pro V1’s must have had the most expensive day!)
Highlight of the day – Frank Forge hitting his 2nd into a marker post a few yards ahead of him on the 4th that then flew off left at a rate of knots into the heavy rough much to the amusement of all of us watching on.