After a break of around 3 months of not being able to play the full 18 holes on Duke’s, it was good to have a change from the Prince’s course (and Duke’s 1-11). Unfortunately today was overcast and rather chilly and worm casts made some holes particularly muddy – ball cleaning on every hole was the order of the day.

Best scores were around player’s handicap, with the course playing ‘long’ due to lack of run, wet grass and the cold temperatures. Dan Ballantyne came out on top in Division 1, beating Lee Frost on countback (both 36 points), with Bill Norman and Iker close behind (both 35 points). In Division 2 Cuneyt came out top, beating Charlie Haines on countback (both 37 points), with Billy Jackson 3rd on 35 points and Attilio 4th on 31 points. Billy had the best front 9 of the day (19 points) and Cuneyt the best back 9 (21 points). The hardest scoring holes were the 13th, 17th and 14th, and the easiest were the 10th, 15th and 7th. Birdies were at a bit of a premium, with only Richard Back bagging 2.

After 6 rounds of the winter competition, Richard Owen and Iker top the table in Division 1 with 108 points each (best 3 scores) and in Division 2 Charles Haines leads on 113 points, from Sean O’Sullivan (108) and Billy Jackson (107), these 3 being well ahead of the remainder of the Div. 2 field.  In the Duke’s Eclectic, Chris Mellish leads from Justin, Allan Boyd and Dan Ballantyne ( see attached reports).

A good turn out…..for a ‘work’ day. Can’t complain about the weather and the conditions. Even some of the six temporary greens were quite fast, and many fairways were newly mown and even green coloured.

Scoring pretty good….with 9 twos recorded and 5 players beating net par.
Lowest gross goes to Angus Robertson…71. Very well done. Top net results as follows:

Division 1
Angus Robertson (6):: 65
Kevin Prendergas (14): 65
Julian James (14): 67

Division 2:
Paul Gullet (20): 65
Fhorkan Uddin (17): 66
Peter Harrington (21): 68

….meanwhile, in the Midweek Winter Competition, Kevin Prendergast has taken a probably unassailable lead of 5 points (see report). The Eclectic is much closer however with Bill Norman, Charles Haines and Ged Quinn all struggling for glory, but all stuck together with net 61’s.

Also shout out for Brett Colley….Eagle on 14.

Perhaps it was a good sign that on the first day of the new month, the weather treated us better than forecast and was definitely on the milder side & we were back on the 2nd green again, albeit just the front of it, although they then added the 12th back in.
Some good scoring in both divisions today with no fewer than 8 birdie ‘2s’ listed on the results and 29 in total recorded.
Playing in his first comp since the beginning of January, Mel takes the honours today in Div1 with 41 points, 24 of which were recorded on the front 9 and was 4 ahead of a group of 3 tied on 37 points (Richard O, Iker and Michael).
In Div 2 Brian R followed up his 40 points midweek with another 40 today and took the honours on the back 9 from Charles who matched his score. 1 back was Billy on 39.

Today was also the last round in the Prince’s Eclectic which Charles has won with a net 59 from Mel on 60. Payout for this happens occurs at the same time as the Winter Comp results once that is over (which looks to be dependant upon Duke’s being open or not).

Taking rounds on Prince’s only for now, the Winter Comp leader is RichardO on 108 from Iker on 103 and Allan & Greg on 102.