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The weekend of 14/15 August saw a fantastic turnout of 15 Croydon players bowl up to the Quarry Park course in Warwickshire. And what a weekend it was. The weather, which has generally been filthy for tournament play, didn't disappoint! Saturday was intermittently grey, slightly sunny or chucking it down. We even had a 20 minute thunder and lightening interruption. But the wind was a little more even tempered and Sunday was very pleasant indeed, warm sunny with a gentle wind. Almost perfect. The disc golf was also very competitive. With 60 or so players spread across the 3 divisions there was plenty of leaderboard movement. In the Open division Jester was there or there abouts for the whole tournament and yet again finished top Croydonite, joint 2nd behind Derek Robins (of course!) Well done fella for yet again getting a podium place. The Intermediate Ams saw Neil Prebble securing 4th place, so nearly taking 3rd... and James Bates unlucky to miss the final in a playoff after finishing joint 5th. But it was the Advanced Am Division that saw the best result for the Club. Phil Wood played some very tidy golf in the inclement weather. Phils big gun of an arm is not necessarily suited to the tight QP course but he tuned in nicely and finished the 1st days 2 round nicely placed just 2 shots off (62/61)top spot. Rich Wood (yours truly) had a less happy day (64/63) and was a further 4 shots back. The par at QP is 54. Sunday morning was a lot more pleasant and Rich had one of his best rounds ever, shooting a 57. Phil had a nice 61 and therfore were level, just 2 shots behind Scot, Sean, into the final. The final course at QP is a nine hole "Jungle" course and this year had been changed and lengthened... not good for those with noodle arms!!! Both Phil and Rich started solidly taking a 4 on the first (Tee 18 to basket 2). The second (T 3 to B 15) saaw Rich go an inch OB eventually to recover with a 10 m uphill putt to secure a 6, Phil played it perfectly and took his 4. The 3rd (T14 to B16 The Nipple) saw fine drives from both good upshots and both had a silly putt. Rich got a shot back with a 4 to Phils 5. Sean who was leading started to blow up a little, and he was getting no luck at all. The 4th (T15 to B5) was straight forward enough for both players, 4 each. 5 (Tee 6 Basket 7) saw good solid play with both taking a 4. The 6th (T8 to B10) all along the river saw Phil unleash a perfect sidearm over the river and back to park it for a 2, Rich escaped with a 3. Croydon were 1 and 2 by this stage with 3 to play. The dangerous 7th (Normal 11) was negociated in 4s and then onto the 8th (hole 13) Rich went for his normal boring layup drive and was ok for a solid 4... Phil went BIG, sidearm over the top of OB and back... got a touch of good fortune and landed inbounds. Just missed his putt but got his 3, and was pretty much home and hosed. The Final Hole (t10 to B18) was pretty straight forward and so it proved to be. Therefore it is with great pleasure that I shook Phils hand as ADV AM CHAMPION of the Quarry Park Open. I came second for our first ever Croydon 1-2. Well done to Phil who really did play fabulous golf in the final, as well as really steady good play all weekend. |
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