1st George van Boyd 21pts
2nd Brad Steel 20 pts [countback]
3rd Diane Clark 20 pts
George van Boyd Goes very Big.
When someone with the power of Ank Robinson takes driver off the par three twelfth it tells you two things about the conditions; the ‘Silecroft Breeze’ is ‘up’ and on this rare occasion it’s coming from the south. His drive finished short of the bunkers on the flat ground before the dip, from where he took a wedge and chipped it into the hole for a birdie. As you do! Or, like me, wished you could! And so he became the only person to have a two in round 10. Such conditions make it even more remarkable that one player could go out and score 21 points on each day. So after holding on to your hats at the weekend, it’s hats off to George van Boyd today for a stunning performance over both days. It also moved him from 75points and 23rd place to 106 and 10th on the order of merit leader board. But more of that later! It was George’s round on Saturday which took the prize, virtue of a better last three holes, which accounted for 10 of his points, but in a post match interview he was prouder of the greater consistency of the Sunday round, made up of six two pointers and three excellent three pointers, where pars into the wind on 12 and 15 stood out. The three 1 pointers on Saturday means there could be more to come!
The fierce southerly wind played it’s part all day and Brad Steel’s 20 points started with one point on the 10th and a blank on the 11th, so in fact he had 19 points over the next seven holes with a birdie on the last for four points, to put the cherry on the cake. Diane Clark also blanked the 11th and she picked up 18 points on the last seven in another outstanding round. It also improved her Order of Merit considerably, as I’ll come to later. Another lady to have a great round on Saturday was Joan Myers. An excellent par on the twelfth was soon followed by an even better birdie on the 14th A hiccup on the 16th was soon forgotten by a par on the 17th and two more points on the last gave her a total of 19. Husband Doug could only post 13 points as he watched on, but on Sunday it was his turn as he recorded 18 points, after blanking the 10th. A par on the tough 15th was part of scoring 14 points over the last five. But Joan was never out of the match and added 17 more points to her Order of Merit challenge. There were several more players with 17 points. Dave Clark was Mr Consistency after posting 17 on Saturday and Sunday but must have rued blanking the 11th on Saturday. Vernon was only one point behind him on Saturday but then matched him with a 17 of his own on Sunday. Dave Warren had 17 on Sunday making him the winner over Ank, Boycee and Gunga and boosting his Order of Merit score, while Helen Holmes brought 8 points from the last three holes to her total of 17. Davey Boyce had 16 points on both days and was another to gain 8 of them over the last three holes on the Sunday. Richard Roberts posted 16 points, which included four one pointers. Diane Clark returned on Sunday and scored 15 points. Tony Waugh posted 15 points on both days and Joe Shaw scored the same on Saturday. New Club Captain Ank Robinson also had 15 on the Saturday as did Jon Holmes, who parred the difficult 15th into the wind . Jon’s 14 points on Sunday contained birdies on 14 and 16. Pete Clark scrambled a birdie on the last on Sunday and came home with 9 points from the last three holes.
Several members really struggled. Gary Turner’s Saturday round began with a remarkable birdie on the 10th but things went awry on the 11th and downhill from there. Joe Burch took 4 points from the 10th and 11th and Ian Swarbrick came home par, par. On Saturday Antony Holmes started badly but also came home par, par while dad Alan struggled throughout. Sue Driver’s 14 points included a par on the 14th and playing partner Chris Lloyd-Rogers had a three pointer on the last. Gunga also found it hard going but had the consolation of a par on the last on Sunday.
Round 10 was altogether a tough round with a strong southerly wind on both days. Anyone giving an honest assessment might consider 17 points good. Holes 10,11,12 & 15 were especially difficult. The course however was in remarkable condition after the recent deluge. Thanks must go to the ground-staff: Gunga, Richard Roberts & Peter Warren ably directed by Ken of course. Thanks also to everyone who played. What made the weekend remarkable was also the changes to the Order of Merit.
Natterjack 9’s Order of Merit after Round 10
[2 Rounds to go]
Next Round – 11 – is divided between Saturday March 5th Front 9 & Sunday March 13th Front 9
Final Round 12 Saturday 26th & Sunday 27th March Back 9.
It’s ‘game on’ in both divisions.
Men. There were significant changes to the men’s and lady’s divisions after this last round. Tony Waugh[120] and Ian Swarbrick [113] remain one and two but did not improve while behind them the field is closing in. Now almost everyone has completed 6 rounds people are able to discard lower scores and this has made the race a lot tighter than it looked a month ago. Richard Roberts finally completed 6 rounds and was able to drop a lower score; moving him from 15th with 95 pts to joint 3rd with 111. Brad Steel was able to join him on 111 and joint third place after an excellent 20 point addition this weekend. Doug Myers moved up to equal third from 105 to 111 and Davey Boyce completed the tie for third by adding 2 points, moving from 109 to 111. Vernon Edmondson added three points to put him 4th on 109 and Dave Clark was able to add 2 points to move into 5th with 108. While current Men’s Champion Geoff Freeman remains injured he also managed to post 107 before his operation. There will be prayers ascending from Pannat Hill as we speak and any return to action could be decisive, or not. Then there’s GvB [George van Boyd]. His two scores of 21 showed just how much this is not over and what a difference a good score or two can make. He’s gone from 75 points and 23rd place to 7th place and 106. And that includes a 14 and a 12 yet to drop. Watch this space. Dave Warren was another to add two points moving him on to 104 and on to the edge of the top ten. Peter Clark added 2 as well, up to 103.
Ladies. Despite Helen Holmes adding 1 to her total, moving on to 111 there were significant gains for both Diane Clark & Joan Myers and what looked done and dusted a month ago is now suddenly wide open. Joan gained 10 points! And Diane added 12! Both are now bang in the mix. Joan has a 14 to drop and Diane has a 13 and a 15. Game on.
Judging by how many people ask me how the Order of Merit works I probably haven’t done great job of explaining it so below I’ve given some examples which I hope will make it clearer. The examples were just taken at random.
Richard Roberts had only played 5 rounds up to this weekend, added together those five totalled 95. Round 10 he played just once and scored 16 giving him a six round total of 95 + 16 =111.
Brad Steel had played seven times before this weekend. His seven scores were: 16,18,19,15,13,20,18. The best six count so they were: 16,18,19,15,20,18, making a total of 106. This weekend he played twice, scoring 20 on Saturday and 14 on Sunday. To add up his best six rounds we look at his lowest score within his best six, which was 15; we take that out and replace it with his latest 20, which means he gained 5 points: 16+18+19+20+18+20 which totals 111. If he scores better than 16 next time he’ll be able to drop the 16 and add in his new score. If that was 20 then he would gain 4 [20-16 = + 4] and move up to 115.
Joan Myers had played six times before round 10 and her scores were:13,19,16,14,13,19 totalling 94. This time she played twice, scoring 19 & 17. She has two 13’s as her worst rounds before this but can now replace them with her 19 & 17. 19+16+14+19+19+17 = 104. She still has a 14 to beat so a 21 point round would move her up to 111, level with leader Helen Holmes, unless Helen improves too.
Helen Holmes had played seven times before this weekend. Her best six scores were:19,20,21,17,16,17 = 110. This weekend she scored 17 which is an improvement on her worst score of 16 by 1 so she moves on from 110 to 111.
Hope this explains how the Order of Merit works.
Men: with a minimum of 4 qualifying rounds
Tony Waugh 120 [best 6 rounds]
Ian Swarbrick 113 [6]
Richard Roberts 111 [6]
Brad Steel 111 [6]
Doug Myers 111 [6]
Davey Boyce 111 [6]
Vernon Edmondson 109 [6]
David Clark 108 [6]
Geoff Freeman 107 [6]
George van Boyd 106 [6]
Dave Warren 104 [6]
Peter Clark 103 [6]
Neil Robertson 103 [6]
Ged McGrath 102 [6]
Martin George 101 [6]
Jon Holmes 99 [6]
Gary Turner 93 [6]
AJ Holmes 91 [6]
Dave Maclardie 91 [6]
Alan Holmes 90 [6]
Joe Shaw 89 [5]
Peter Warren 89 [6]
Pete Fry 86 [5]
John Phillips 86 [6]
James Mallon 82 [5]
John Simpson 80 [5]
Joe Burch 79 [5]
Edd Robertson 69 [4]
John French 66 [4]
Ladies: All qualifiers
Helen Holmes 110 [6 Rounds]
Joan Myers 104 [6]
Diane Clark 102 [6]
Sue Driver 82 [5]
Chris Lloyd-Rogers 71 [4]
Sue Bilgri 41 [2}
Yvonne Goodrick 40 [2]
