Its a Open and Shut Season for Howard
With the Order of Merit pretty much wrapped up all that remained on offer was a chance for a season major win for all those in attendance.
The CGS Open as in previous years struggled to get numbers however 30 members supported this year’s final two day major and everyone enjoyed both the courses and the hotel,” buzzing” was one word that was heard following the event.
The first day was played on the Championship Priory course, the conditions were good and so was the course. The greens were in great condition for the time of year and with some subtle breaks they proved to be very challenging.
The scoring was reasonable for the standard of the course with 36 points being the first round leading total, that mark was posted by Roan McLeod who played to his 10 handicap closely followed ominously by the man of the moment Howard Browne with 35. Some would say he was sandbagging on the second nine especially after posting 22 points for the front nine but you never know in this game, however one thing was certain he was still on form and playing good golf.
One of the highlights from the first round was on the Par 4 8th with Mary Riley hitting her second shot over the wall adjacent to the green, it would no doubt be difficult to get that ball back over the wall and on the green which required a delicate flop shot over the wall which Mary demonstrated with great skill, not only did she get the ball onto the green but she also holed a 15 foot putt for par.
The first round saw the inclusion of the usual on course challenges of the nearest the pin, nearest in two and the longest drive.
The nearest the pin was won by Ansel Pottinger on the Par 3 6th, the nearest in two went to Dave Brown on the par 4 9th and for the longest time the leading mark on the longest drive on the Par 4 12th was held by Mary Riley. In spite of the tee being forward it would have been nice to see Mary winning the longest drive. At the time Mary posted her mark a few of the usual long drive exponents had yet to reach the tee so it was more than likely the mark would get beat. The CGS long drive champion Ian Higgins failed to beat the mark but it was chairman Junior Harris who would spoil Mary’s party.
After the round everyone resigned to their hotel rooms for some rest, a shower and then onto the evening meal and some socialising before nights out.
Day 2 started with breakfast and a visit to the range for those who could manage it then onto the 1st tee on the Moorlands course. The round today would be less strenuous after the sloping fairways of the Priory. Although the order of Merit was all but won by Howard the potential of a Major win was still on the cards for those who carded a good score on the first day.
With the course being wide open and much flatter there would no doubt be a major improvement to the scores from the more difficult first round and by the end of the day that would prove to be the case. Out in the second group was Roan McLeod who had been the leader after the first round, knowing today would require some good scoring in order to win what would be his first major in over 5 seasons he started poorly with a double bogey on the first. He then recovered and started hitting fairways with some good driving but the only trouble was the second shot was letting him down so he failed to produce any significant change to his score and came in again with a respectable 36 points.
Out in one of the early groups was the man of the moment Howard Browne and the word was he was on another tear! – Word from playing partner Denny Senior was “cut him”. No doubt he was taking full advantage of the course conditions as opposed to his 35 points on the tougher Priory course. With yet another 20 plus points on the front nine there would be no sandbagging the second nine this time. Following up 23 points on the front Howard posted a 20 pointer on the back to post 43 point total which would not be beaten on the day. Having won fifty percent of the events he’s played in this season he’s pretty much dominated the year with three wins, the culmination of which has resulted in winning the 2015 Order of Merit.
Apart from what can only be described as a dodgy handicap at the start of the season we must give him credit for the hard work he puts in off the course on his game the man practices almost daily. With his improved play and knowing his handicap didn’t reflect his ability he’s accepted a severe cut in handicap to bring himself down to 9. Having played the Moorland course to a 7 handicap, such a drastic cut is about right. One thing is for sure next year is going to be interesting, he’s already said he plans to get down to 2 by the end of the season so we had all better get practicing during the winter months.
There were some very good scores on the day namely Trevor Lammy and Vassel Brown who scored 41 and 40 points respectively, I must also highlight Vassel who was playing off a 7 handicap so scored 3 over gross, you see Vassel your handicap is accurate!
The overall positions of the combined scores can be found on the website however it was Howard Browne who won the final Major with a combined score of 78 points.
Round 1
Round 2
Final Result