Match Report 2014 Preston Golf Club
Wednesday 27th August saw the 10th outing of the Parrot's in 2014, and Preston was the venue. The weather was fine if a little blustery, as twelve players turned up to play one of the finest courses on our annual rota. Preston is a lovely course , with some excellent, but testing holes, although the club are in need of some Health and Safety initiatives, as some of the routes from green to next tee are, to say the least, treacherous!!
The morning nine saw a number of people return good scores. Phil Matthews had a 17, Mark Rhodes an 18, but the prize was shared between regular morning winners Tony Johnson and Dave Bamber with 19 apiece. This gave optimism to people hoping to improve their discard in the attempt to catch runaway leader T.J. in the overall standings.
The afternoon round started, and 8 of us stood awestruck on the first tee, as we watched the first fourball of Jim Clayton, Geoff Moyle, Geoffrey Moss and veteran Paul Greenaway play the first hole. The two Geoffrey's recorded birdies, and , nearest the pin, Jim, secured his par leaving dual recent winner, Paul, £1.50 down after the first hole. This left Geoffrey Moyle with 4 points after 1 hole, and I was able to calculate with complex mathematical extrapolation that the oft-married former firefighter was on target to score 72 points, and surely record his first ever victory in the society. However, as Glenn has often pointed out, my mathematical capabilities aren't what they were, and despite adding 10 points on the first 3 holes of the back 9 to his score, Geoffrey was only able to achieve 26 points. Will this enigmatic purveyor of smelly fish EVER record a victory. Jim was the only player in this group to score over 30, and his 31 points made him the early leader.
Second group out consisted of the 4 Y's, Mikey, Marky, Franky and Lukey. There was a fifth Y. Why did any of us bother to turn up? We were all rubbish, Mark's score of 28 being the best.
Final group out consisted of the big-hitting Dave Bamber and Trevor Middleton, club wobbling Phil Matthews and overall leader T.J. After scoring 19 in the morning, T.J. used the extra 9 holes to add a point to that total returning a score of 20. Dave, who also scored 19 in the morning, started well, with 18 going out, but tired on the back 9 to score a total of 30. This left only Trevor and Phil with a chance to overhaul clubhouse leader Jim's 31.
Trevor had turned up in the morning complaining of a bad back, and saying if it didn't improve he would be going home at lunch-time. Anyone who knows this supreme competitor knew that these were only mind games to lull his opponents into a false sense of security. Both Trevor and Phil scored on every hole in the afternoon. Excellent golf! Trevor had 19 going out to Phil's 16. Phil was able to pull 2 shots back over the first 4 holes of the back 9, but was unable to make any further headway, as they matched each other shot for shot over the last 5 holes. Phil finishing with a very good score of 34, just pipped by Trevor's 35.
This leapfrogs Trevor into second position overall, one point ahead of myself and Paul, but still 5 behind T.J.
With only 2 games left, the question remains.... Can anyone catch T.J.? With £175 in prize money available to the first 3 it has to be worth trying. See you at Wilpshire.
Handicap changes from Preston:-
T Middleton to 19
P Matthews to 19
G Moyle to 28
M Barnes to 12
G Moss to 17
T Johnson to 26
Mike
