A Win at Home for Keith Riley
This year’s event was well attended by 24 members and guests, the largest attendance to date. The West Midlands course is well known to the majority of CGS members, a course that was on the schedule for a couple of years.
The founder’s day event is usually played over a different format from the usual stableford we play for the majors, due to the smaller numbers whom have attended this event it as given way to trying out new formats. Last year it was “Bogey” and this year it was “Medal”. It would be a challenge playing medal on this long golf course especially playing from the white tees.
The first group went off at 9:10 and would be back in the club house 4 hours later. It would be a long time before the final group would arrive in the club house. This is no doubt a result of the medal format. This format is a much tougher test mentally than stableford. All those who compete in their monthly medal would testify to that.
Although some had suffered from the slow play others were able to put that out of their mind and were able to post a reasonable score. It’s says a lot when the winner of this event would eventually come from the first group.
This format would also produce the inevitable quadruple bogey and the dreaded double figure on a hole. Many players would arrive in the club house saying “I had a 10 on 15” and “I had an 11 on 3”. One of the most consistent golfers in the CGS who was playing an excellent round was Ian Higgins. Ian was playing well until he had a 9 on the par 4 15th. The 15th is not a long hole but it’s now out of bounds on both sides of the fairway. A few years ago this wasn’t the case, it was only OB on the left so everyone would blast drives down fairway and if they leaked it right it would still be ok. Well not anymore, now it’s a tight driving hole and also the 16th use to be bail out down the 15th if you hit a bad one there – not anymore that’s also OB on both sides of the fairway.
When analysts and golfers alike say that this game is more mental than physical they weren’t joking. Upon reaching the 15th Ian’s thoughts were, “I’ll just hit a steady drive down the middle and avoid the OB”. Well that was far from the case, the steady drive turned into a pulled shot straight out of bounds left, this was followed by another pulled tee shot in the same place. Ian would eventually walk off the green with a 9. Onto the 16th, and with another tee shot OB the mental side of this game was beginning to come into play.
Ian would eventually finish with a net 73, it doesn’t take much to work out that without the 9 on the 15th Ian would have won this event. As it goes “would’ve could’ve but never did”! At some point we can all say the same – if I had only…..
Playing in the first group and a member of the West Midlands course was Keith Riley. Keith who’s probably the elder statesman in the CGS played some excellent golf. Shot after shot the comments from the group was “good shot Keith”, “Nice shot Keith”, “good putt Keith”, Keith played very well. He pared the two most difficult holes on the course, the long par 4 stroke index one and the stroke index two. Keith managed his game very well and would card a winning score of net 72.
In runner up spot on count back to Ian Higgins was Roan McLeod who also had some difficulty on the 15th. After hitting a decent drive on the hole he found himself behind a small tree, he was able to get some relief due to his ball being near a rabbit hole however the relief didn’t help to prevent his next shot hitting the same tree and going out of bounds. The following shot had a better result but wouldn’t prevent a double bogey – again one of those “if only” moments.
One thing the CGS committee try to emphasise to members is to check your score card and make sure you sign it. Emmanuel Sylva did sign his card however because he wasn’t able to stay after the event for the presentation, I can only imagine that he was in a hurry. He didn’t fully check his card. If he had he would have won the event with a net 71. Since we don’t use our normal computer scoring on the founder’s day, we are reliant on players checking and signing their scorecards correctly. Unfortunately for Emmanuel he signed for a net 74, only good enough for 4th place. Another of those “could’ve, should’ve” moments! – “but never did”. It’s a lesson to all; you must check the scorecard with your playing partner before signing it, its good practice, you just never know.
There was no longest drive today, however nearest the pin was held on the island green par 3 18th, the signature hole at the West Midlands course. When having a bad round it’s nice to have something to aim for. With the nearest the pin on the 18th it could easily be an all or nothing shot – don’t forget it’s a medal! With a shot to 14 feet, a bad round turned into an okay day for Vassel Brown.
The most unfortunate part of the day was no doubt the pace of play; something that will need to be addressed especially if the attendance for this event will increase over the years to come due to the quality of the venue’s being played. All golfers must understand that it’s their duty to keep up with the group in front of them and not to stay ahead of the group behind.