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Benijofar Golf Society at El Plantio

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Contributor / 2006-03-05 14:37:18

Just  like being back in the Uk ! Setting out in the dark at 7 am, arriving to find neither the course nor the restaurant open yet, frost in the air and the forecast on the morning  Spanish tv was for snow!

People were wondering if they were still asleep and dreaming but when told that all tee times were being put back 45 minutes due to the frost on the greens then they knew they were awake.

 Not used to this cold first thing in the morning but due to another society having already booked the premium tee slots we had no choice but to have an early start on this days event.

 Forty seven players on the day and a mixture of events with the category 1 players playing the second medal round of the year with category 2 playing a stableford event. In addition to this, there were a number of singles  matches being played in the annual knockout and a semi final of the pairs knockout as well. Playing was the easy part on the day, it was getting all the scores of each competition right which was the challenge.

 First of all congratulations to Dave Mason and Phil Pettican who by beating Bruce Menzies and Brian Marriott became the first finalists in the pairs competition.

 As if dealing with the early chill in the air  wasn,t bad  enough , we found that some of the tees were set back, or the course was playing longer than normal that early in the morning and good scores were hard to come by.

  Highlights on the day were an "Eagle" on the stroke index 1 par four by Terry Rathbone who hit an eight iron into the green for his second shot and said "that should be close" not knowing that it had gone into the hole at that point. Likewise on the final hole eighteen par three when Steve Edwards sliced his tee shot onto the buggy path, where the ball hit a buggy and bounced back onto the green quite close to the pin and allowed him to record a "birdie" on the hole!

Results on the day were as follows:
Nearest the pin winners were Pete Marshall on hole 7 and  Ian Harris on the 9th.On the back nine Ian Smith was closest on the 14th and Steve Edwards was closest on the 18th.
Nearest the pin second shot on hole thirteen was won by Peter Nicholls.
Winner of the best front nine was Peter Nicholls with a net 34 and the back nine was won by Max Bourgonje with a net 35.
The par three competition for category 2 players was won by Rene Marriott with thirteen points and Terry Rathbone  won the par fives with a net score of nineteen.

In the stableford event the runner up was Steve Edwards with a score of thirty five points but winner on the day for the second month running and getting a further  handicap reduction was Ian Harris with a points total of thirty eight (including the odd blob as well!)

In the medal event, there were four players on a net score of seventy six but by  virtue of a lower handicap the runner up position went to Dave Mason whilst the competition was won by John Thompson with a net score of seventy five.

With one more medal event to go for the season, this is shaping up nicely for the finish on "Captains" day at Alenda in May where any one of half a dozen players are in contention to win this season's award.

Next event is on March 15th when we make our annual pilgrimage up to the lovely course of Las Pinaillas at Albacete.