On Monday myself and Lindsay Forbes were up against Bryan Neal and Liz Robertson in the final of the Pairs Match play Competition. What an epic encounter it turned out to be! With the lead going one way and then the other the standard of golf was quite remarkable.

On the front nine alone there were seven birdies or nett birdies with Bryan also achieving a nett eagle on the 4th. We stood on the 18th green ‘all square’ and I had a ‘Diego Maradonna’ (a nasty 5 footer) of a putt to win the match. Under the pressure I missed it and so we had to play the hole two more times until there was a final outcome. After nearly five hours of mental exhaustion it all came down to the final putts! On the second time of asking Lindsay and I were relieved to take the title by just one shot!

Whilst this drama was being played out the rest of our members took part in a ‘Counter Game’. Top of the shop, with 99 points, were John and Ellen Drakesmith, together with Pete Dunn and Nora Betts.

Wednesday saw us compete in the third and final round of the Club championship medal competition (remember best two cards out of three to count). Winner on the day was John Shervell with a nett score of 71. Hats off to John who also took the overall 1st place with a nett total of 142. Second on the day was Hendrick Oldenziel with 74 on countback from Mike Mahony (oddly enough also with 74).

Overall, in second place with a very commendable 144 was Pete Dunn who just edged out Brian Staines on 145. Our best gross score winner was Lindsay Forbes with 152 (been quite a week for him)!

He might not thank me for mentioning it but after Bryan Neal’s heroics on the 4th on Monday, he carded 18 on it today! (Probably still tired). Mind you, he was followed closely by Alan Douglas with a 13 on the same hole (so what was his excuse?) In the words of Ol’ Blue Eyes ‘That’s Life’.

Onto Friday’s ‘Armistice Day’ stableford. Many thanks  to Mick (The Grip) Reeves who, for the ninth year on the trot, and representing The British Legion out here in Spain, donated a number of ‘nearest the hole’ prizes. Of these, Benedicte Kruse came very close to getting a hole in one on the 6th.

The final podium was made up of Trevor Pulleyblank  in 1st  place with 36 points, John Drakesmith 2nd with 35 and yours truly managed 3rd place with 34 points.

Pues, hasta la semana que viene

Peter Reffell