A glorious Summer's day and
five Baxter boys turned up early at Sunbury to commemorate the
daring-do of their boyhood hero Douglas Bader. If he could punish
the Hun sans-legs, there would be no wingeing from the Baxter
platoon as they stuggled with their own form of handicap (slicing,
skying, shanking etc.)
As is the tradition, the
course was given th usual respect of a +4 handicap ( i.e. double
Perivale handicap +4 ) As it turned out, the boys took it in
turns to challenge the course by hittiing par or birdie on nine
of the holes.
Mike missed puts for par
on the first two holes, but managed to stay ahead of the pack
until an almost superb approach pitching wedge missed the green
by a foot and plummeted into the bunker leading to a big eight.
With Alan going birdie on four and Dave going back-to-back pars,
the scene changed. Tony picked up a nice three pointer on six,
where Mike was in the water, but recovered well. A third of the
way through and Alan was in the lead by three, a three-way tie
for second and Tony one further back.
Over the next three holes,
each player parred once and by half way it was Alan leading with
a monster 21 points. Mike was three behind, as he moved one ahead
of Dave. Tony was a point further back with Geoff trailing on
15 points.
The opening three holes coming
back has the interesting par threes and the dog-leg par four
by the pylon. This is where Alan came to grief, but with some
desperate ball-searching, great chipping and putting he managed
to scramble four points. Dave was less fortunate by two points.
Mike managed seven points and then went birdie on the thirteenth.
With five to go, Mike was back in the lead by one and Tony had
crept into third place, still four behind Alan.
Dave's par on thirteen was
the first of three in a row. Tony hit par on fourteen, but Mike
came back strong with par on sixteen. A par three and a par five
to go, Mike was now four ahead of thepack, with Alan and Tony
tie for second. Dave was one point behind and Geoff a further
two adrift. Mike hit yet another par to extend his lead, but
Tony was the only one to get a four.
All was set for a grandstand
finish, with Tony one ahead of Alan and two ahead of Dave. Mike
played to the crowd, by going onto the first green with his drive
and then zig-zaggig the course to end up in the bunker by the
green. A chip and two puts gave him his two points for a great
40 on th back nine. The others couldn't score a point between
them, so it was Tony in second place, with Alan staying one ahead
of Dave.
Mike's 87 was achieved with
a total of 42 puts a ball in the water and some hacking from
the sand. Alan's record of 85 was safe, but with Steve and Con
absent, it lookes as if the Subury course has lost some of it's
terror. Future Baxter rounds will be played +2.
- (click
here for the latest pics from Tunisia)
- RUNNING STABLEFORD SCORES
- (course handicap +4)
|
MIKE 23 |
TONY 28 |
ALAN 23 |
DAVE 23 |
GEOFF 27 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
5 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
5 |
4 |
5 |
3 |
5 |
4 |
8 |
5 |
9 |
6 |
7 |
5 |
8 |
6 |
11 |
9 |
8 |
6 |
10 |
9 |
13 |
10 |
10 |
7 |
13 |
12 |
15 |
11 |
11 |
8 |
16 |
13 |
19 |
15 |
13 |
9 |
18 |
16 |
21 |
17 |
15 |
10 |
21 |
18 |
22 |
17 |
17 |
11 |
23 |
21 |
24 |
18 |
20 |
12 |
25 |
22 |
25 |
19 |
20 |
13 |
29 |
24 |
28 |
22 |
22 |
14 |
31 |
27 |
29 |
26 |
23 |
15 |
33 |
31 |
30 |
30 |
27 |
16 |
36 |
32 |
32 |
31 |
29 |
17 |
39 |
34 |
33 |
32 |
31 |
18 |
41 |
34 |
33 |
32 |
31 |
- (course handicap reduced to +2)
-
- SCORES
|
MIKE 23 |
TONY 28 |
ALAN 23 |
DAVE 23 |
GEOFF 27 |
1 |
5 |
7 |
7 |
7 |
7 |
2 |
5 |
6 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
3 |
8 |
6 |
5 |
7 |
5 |
4 |
3* |
5 |
2** |
3* |
3* |
5 |
7 |
7 |
5 |
4* |
5 |
6 |
6 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
6 |
7 |
3* |
3* |
4 |
5 |
4 |
8 |
5 |
7 |
4* |
4* |
4* |
9 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
10 |
3* |
4 |
5 |
7 |
5 |
11 |
5 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
5 |
12 |
5 |
7 |
6 |
6 |
6 |
13 |
2** |
4 |
3* |
3* |
3* |
14 |
6 |
5 |
7 |
4* |
7 |
15 |
6 |
5* |
6 |
5* |
6 |
16 |
4* |
6 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
17 |
3* |
4 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
18 |
6 |
8 |
8 |
8 |
8 |
in |
40 |
47 |
50 |
49 |
51 |
out |
47 |
51 |
43 |
47 |
49 |
total |
87 |
98 |
93 |
96 |
100 |
net |
64 |
70 |
70 |
73 |
73 |
birdies |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
pars |
5 |
2 |
2 |
6 |
3 |
|