Shirwater Trophy.......

On another fine day a field of over 80 assembled to contest the Shirwater Trophy. The competition Christchurch against Clearwater was instigated about 5 years ago with the trophy being donated by Geoff Saunders and competed for on a home and away basis. Clearwater has held the trophy over the past few years so I was anxious for us to have a win and return it to its true home at Shirley.

A number of keen contests have developed over the years. In particular the 2 Brians (Andrews & Ronan) have an all in grudge match with Marty Fuller & Phil Donnithorne. For some reason they were granted the starting position of 1 off 1 so at least at tee off the Brians had bragging rights. As we followed them around the course we were told at every opportunity it was "a tight tight struggle' with no one able to gain the ascendancy. However as we hit off down 18 there was a "hoop & a holla" and the two Clearwater players were seen to be dancing around the flag on the green. Subsequently we were told that Brian Ronan had missed a shortish putt (as the night went on it became shorter and shorter to the extent the Brian R finally said it was 'ungentlemanly' for them not have given it) to half the match. As a result there were severe fines to be paid and much wine to be drunk as well as the transfer of bragging rights to the victors who were the visitors!!

Another tradition is for the two Club Captains to play in a match with the Club Pro's unfortunately Barry Johnson was away so Kerrin Starr stood in with Craig Mitchell to play Ant Doyle and myself. At the outset let me say I was probably to be no more than a spectator in the event however I thought my 13 shots may come in handy now and then!

Ant & Craig started with a rush Ant birdied 1 ,3, 4 , & 6 while Craig answered on 2 & 4 - so we so had a two up lead after 6. My 4 on 7 was good enough for a half but then I parred 8 & 9 to move us 4 ahead at the turn. The 12 was halved with tap in birdies (& I had a par) but I then parred 13 with a shot to move us up to 5 up with 5 to play. Craig rose to the challenge and birdied 14 but so did Ant & I (with a shot) so the match was over 6/4. As I said to Craig "you can't have lost too many matches 6/4 when walking off the 14th green 4 under the card!!".

Craig continued his good round and finally finished 5 under for the day with 13 pars & 5 birdies -no dropped shots. Ant played good golf and was even with Craig until he took a triple on 17 but he did bounce back with a birdie on 18 to finish 2 under for the day. Kerrin played steady golf but off the white tees she probably needed more than the 2 shots we gave her!

The competition for the trophy has always been decided on an averaging of the stableford scores because the team numbers are different. Given I was in charge the Duckworth Fraser system applied whereby we took the top 2/3's of the scores and averaged them. On this basis Christchurch was seen to be the winner. The individual scores were outstanding with the Mens competition being won by David Isaac 43 points from Shaun Xiong 41 & Alan Masters 40. The Women's section was won by Mee Huong Yang 43 from Pam Bowden 42 & Rose O'Brien 41.

The day finished with a very pleasant buffet meal provided by Amanda & Andrew. There was hot ham , a hot chicken dish with a green salad and a Greek salad with scalloped potatoes while for dessert there were 'bird nests' and apple shortcake with loads of fresh cream. I think it can be said that the meal was enjoyed by all who partook (and certainly so when the amount of wine consumed is taken into consideration).

We will play Clearwater away in late August early September so mark it in your diaries now!!!