MEN'S CAPTAIN WEEKLY NEWS
The sunny weather has continued, but the strong southwesterly breeze returned to make the Stableford Competition quite challenging on Thursday 13 April. Lots of raptors, from honey buzzards to griffon vultures have been visible in our skies, along with returning house martins and swallows.
On Saturday we had the first Ranking tournament of the new season, sponsored by Abbeygate. Thank you to Amanda Stanford for her continuing support of this important Board Competition. The Paradym Callaway Custom Fitting Day, organised by Mark Emery, attracted quite a lot of interest on the driving range, and the Grand National, in the late afternoon, was of significant interest to those with well fancied horses in the sweepstake run by Paul Holliday. Well done to Corach Rambler (no. 26) who was the 8-1 favourite and romped home to a great win; 140 euros for the winner!
A couple of new Rules have been brought in for this year’s Ranking with the agreement of Amanda Stanford. So this means that there will be prizes from Abbeygate for the top 3 men and the top 3 women at the end of the year. All players will also get an automatic 1 point for participating. This means that all other points allocated will increase by 1. So the winner each month will get 21 points, 19 for second place, 17 for third, 16 for fourth and so on….
The breeze switched and strengthened for Sunday’s Med Golf Event, a Texas Scramble on the New Course, with strong easterly gusts sweeping across the course. Despite this the scoring was exceptionally good and a number of San Roque members did very well, particularly the team of Mike Cowburn, John Hunter, Joachim and Svetlana Friedl.
For Tuesdays and Thursdays in particular, I would like to emphasize my wish to mix things up a bit allowing people to play with a greater range of people. So please try to be sparing with your requests and this will help to facilitate this goal. If you need to request a specific time please tell me why and I will do my best to satisfy the requirement.
Results
Thursday 13 April: Midweek Competition – Stableford
First: Gary Potts (39 points)
Second: David MacGregor (35 points)
Third: Vincent Nagle (35 points)
Fourth: Phil Fisher (34 points, on handicap)
Twos: Stuart Burrell, Gary Potts and David MacGregor
Nearest the Pin on 16: David Steele
Best Gross: David MacGregor
Tissue: Ray Seamer
Doilies: Joachim Friedl, David Tyler, Tony Flanagan, Nigel Lilley, John Tierney and Jim Flynn
Saturday 15 April: Ranking
We had a very full field of Men playing so this meant that tee times went all the way through to 12 noon and levy prize amounts were split between Division 1 (Handicap categories 1 & 2, up to Hcp Index 12.0) and Division 2 (Handicap categories 3 and higher). Ranking points were distributed across the entire field as normal.
Division 1
First: Jim Jenet 41 points (Best Gross 74)
Second: Hugh Richards 39 points
Third: Sandy Casofsky 36 points (on handicap)
Division 2
First: Mark Squire 39 points
Second: Neville Kutner 37 points
Third: Duncan Quigley 37 points
Fourth: Andrew Macaulay 37 points (on handicap)
Nearest the Pin in 3 on Hoe 17: David MacGregor. Twos: None.
Tissue – Division 1: Paul Weigall; Tissue – Division 2: Radik Yamilov (both 22 points) With a large field in the Ranking, there was a bumper crop of Doilies: Norman Savitz, Ray Seamer, Theo Quick, Roger Griffiths, Seamus Desmond, Iain Moodie and Bengt Andersson.
Top Ten in the Ranking after one event:
1. Jim Jenet – 21 points
2. Hugh Richards – 19 points
3. Mark Squire – 17 points
4. Neville Kutner – 16 points
5. Duncan Quigley – 15 points
6. Andrew Macauley – 14 points
7. Sandy Casofsky – 13 points
8. Michael Keane – 12 points
9. Chris Hutchin – 11 points
10. Keith Vince -10 points
Thank you to everyone who took part. A great start to the new season! We had 52 entrants (including 3 juniors). 31 players in the Men’s Competition benefited from the new rule and receive 1 point just for participating.
Sunday 16 April: Med Golf Winter Texas Scramble on the New Course
This Med Golf Team Event, sponsored by Abacus Financial Services, saw 12 teams tee it up and is covered here because of prominent SRC involvement.
First: Mike Cowburn, John Hunter, Joachim and Svetlana Friedl 50.4 points
Second: Stefan Borge, Andrew Montegriffo, John Gill and Paul Coelho 51.7 points
Third: Paul Holliday, Chris Mounter, Jamie Good, David Landles 53.2 points
Fourth: Archie Patterson, Chris Taylor, Mandy Quinn and Mick Usher 53.7 points
Easter Monday Texas Scramble
As previously noted, there were some additional levy amounts for the top prize winners:
1st: Tony Flanagan, Phil Fisher, Debbie Fisher, Ruth Bailey (50 euros each).
2nd: Jeremy Sibbons, Neil, Euan and Susan McDougall. (25 euros each).
3rd: Hugh Richards, Andy Stanford, Debbie Richards, Chris Hutchin (25 euros each).
Course Information from Ben:
Tees will be top-dressed and aerated with an 8mm tine Monday this week. Fairways will be sprayed with foliar feed on Tuesday. Nematode samples were sent for analysis last week, this week we will get the soil tests sent off and we will also be testing for Bermuda mite with an entomologist in the UK. Greens and ante greens will be top-dressed and aerated with an 8mm solid tine on Wednesday this week. All bent grass will be sprayed on Thursday this week, this will be a penetrative wetting agent with a nematode product.
Testing will take place every 3-4 weeks for the next 3 months to ensure we are understanding life cycles, populations and success of our control applications.
Bunker levels will continue to be checked this week, sand was added into the bunker on Hole 3 (RHS) and the 5th greenside bunker will receive more today. These are improving although with the movement of sand and the introduction of new sand some might appear a little softer in places. Other general works will continue this week, greens on Holes 4 and 17 will be targeted for the turfing around the edges; the addition of new mulch will also continue.
Thought for the week:
As we are now into the summer season, the deadline for competition entries is at 4pm the day before. Cancellations for medical reasons are one thing; however, if your plans have changed because you are playing a match, going to the beach or having lunch with family or friends, please endeavour to avoid a late cancellation which causes extra work for the Captains and Pro Shop Staff. Thank you.
Looking Ahead to the next 3 Weeks...
Monday 17 April: Men’s Inter Club v La Reserva (Away) – Duncan will be captaining
Tuesday 18 April: Midweek Competition – Stableford
Thursday 20 April: Midweek Competition – Stableford (Mixed)
Sunday 23 April: Monthly Medal
Monday 24 April: Men’s Inter Club v La Reserva (Home) – Duncan will be captaining
Tuesday 25 April: Midweek Competition – Stableford
Thursday 27 April: Midweek Competition – Stableford
Saturday 29 April: Three Club Challenge
Tuesday 2 May: Midweek Competition – Stableford (63 Tees)
Thursday 4 May: Midweek Competition – Stableford (63 Tees)
Friday 5 May: Men’s ACL v Sotogrande (Away)
Saturday 6 & Sunday 7 May: Ladies Club Championships
Golfing Anecdotes:
Seve Ballesteros turned professional on 17 April 1974, eight days after his 17th birthday.
The first tournament he played in was the Spanish Open at La Manga, but he missed the cut by 6 shots, with the American player, Jerry Heard, going on to win the event. Seve’s first professional cheque was for just £15. He was the only person in the world to own two Green Jackets from Augusta National and keep them both at home. He took the second one home with him at the end of his final Masters in 2007.
The longest par 3 in Major Championship golf is the 8th hole at Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania, depicted below. It plays 288 yards from the tips and is well protected by bunkers. At the 2016 U.S. Open it yielded just 24 birdies over the 4 rounds. For the Members, a relatively flat green does accept low running shots which manage to miss the sand traps.
San Roque members, guests and visitors can admire the view from the special Seve tee on the 4th hole of the New Course. It stretches to 254 yards across a wooded ravine to a green that is defended by 9 bunkers. In windy conditions, it is a very challenging shot and you cannot afford to miss it left. The Men used it in the Seve Trophy Event this year and I had another go at it today. I am pleased to report that after missing right with a driver from the tee, I managed to get up and down for a regulation par.
Happy Golfing and Swing it well !
