1st Round of President’s Trophy (Sponsored by MoneyCorp)
The first round of this season’s SMGS President’s Trophy drew a rather small field compared to other occasions. A number of factors contributed to this (none involving trips up the toll motorway by mistake), the main two being the day’s buggy price compared to other courses the Society plays, and a number of members going away on a separately organised trip.
Twenty-eight turned up accompanied by 3 guests. Those that did make it found a course in very good condition, way ahead of that encountered in SMGS’s previous visit in March, with the green’s particularly notable for their smooth roll and consistency. A pleasure to play.
Due to the limited numbers 3 categories were maintained, but only 3 prized places given in each. Quite clearly Bronze category players struggled more than Silver, and Silver more than Gold. Neil Oliver won Bronze, a swift and impressive response from collection of the Abacus last week in La Torre.
Darren Hancock took Gold. But the stand-out score of the day went to Ivan Hanak. Very discrete in his prize-winning activities of late, Ivan romped home with a superb 39 points and a significant leap up this season’s Order of Merit table. The real shock of the day came with the awarding of the Abacus. Those who saw Barry Roehrig’s totally-out-of-character tee shot on the first could only have thought that things would quickly get better. Well, it seems not. Welcome to the majority’s world Baz!!!
The day’s winning results, by category and in reverse order, were the following:
Bronze Category: 3rd John Rose (29), 2nd Keith Stevenson (30 on CB) and 1st Neil Oliver, also on 30 points
Silver Category: 3rd Phil de Lacy (32), 2nd Ken Flaherty (33) and 1st , with the day’s outstanding score, Ivan Hanak with 39 points
Gold Category: 3rd Steve Higgins (34), 2nd Tony Smale (35) and 1st Darren Hancock with 36 points
Nearest the pins (Sponsored by Property Shop): Hole 3 Paul Kelsall, Hole 5 Steve Ashurst , Hole 13 Darren Strugnell, Hole 16 Darren Hancock
Abacus: (to everybody’s amazement!!) Barry Roehrig
Best Guest: John Reilly (34)
Our thanks go to all Alenda staff for an enjoyable day. Next week we will be at Vistabella. Keep up to date with all SMGS matters by logging on to our website www.smgs.org or simply give Captain Phil de Lacey a call on 966 77 4197.
