Match Report – Villamartin 22nd September 2020

26 of us made the short journey to Villamartin where, once again, we found the course to be in excellent condition, especially the greens. The weather was just about perfect for golf, not too hot and a little breeze every now and then and with not many golfers out and about, the pace of play was ideal.

Back at the pub, we were greeted by the smiling Fenton and the aroma of his latest offering, which was fully appreciated by all who partook.

It soon became apparent that the course wasn’t playing that easy with only 7 breaking the 30 point barrier and only one member exceeded their handicap.

NTP’s: As usual, we had the 4 NTP’s for the Par 3’s and one for the NTP in 3 on the hard Par 5, the 14th. All four of the Par Three’s were claimed and they were:

Hole 6, Blue Smith: Hole 9 Mick Phelan: Hole 13 John Peters and Hole 17, Daz Hancock who was disappointed to leave his birdie putt an inch short and miss out on a share of the Two’s Pot which was won by Mick Phelan who collected 52€ for his Birdie on the 9th. No-one made the green in three on the 14th, which is hardly surprising.

In the Silver Division only two recorded a 30-point plus score and that meant the CBNC in the Silver with a score of 29 went to the Captain himself, Ernie Wilson. The runner-up and the Winner were the two brothers, Evan and Dan Marriott. Evan’s 33 points gave him the runners-up slot and with a nice and steady knock of 35, Dan took the top spot in Silver.

In the Gold Division it was deja vu for the top two places and Mick Phelan’s 31 points was only good enough for the CBNC. Mirroring last week’s results, the runner up was Daz Hancock with 33 points and the winner was Steve Higgins with 36 points.

Now, there was an audible gasp when a score of 40 points was announced for the Overall Winner of the day, there was a big round of applause when the name of Gabi Middleton was announced as the Winner of the day. We hope she enjoys her new handicap reduction from 37 to 34!

Happy Golfer: Normally, there is a battle for the ‘honour’ of receiving a bottle of wine for their bad day’s golf, but after this game, there was only one in contention, by a long, long way and with a score that is possibly the lowest recorded, Bob Kemp stepped up to accept his wine. He also welcomed a new handicap, from 19 to 20.

Next week we are off north to Vistabella and if anyone wants to know the way, follow Gabi Middleton….but that said, that might not be a good idea, you could end up at La finca! Anyway, yes, we are off to Vistabella and we have reserved 28 places and as at time of writing, 17 have been taken.

The week after we are supposed to be making the journey through Murcia to a Society favourite, Altorreal. I say ‘supposed’ as there is a possibility that there might be some restrictions on travel again. IF we aren’t allowed to travel into Murcia, we will be playing Lo Romero.

Steve Higgins