Saturday afternoon on 7 November saw 10 visiting clubs descend on Shirley Links for the 78th playing of the Norton Francis Cup. The competition is decided by way of a teams fourball par competition with Club Members playing for the Markers Cup on the same basis. Norton Francis was Club President for 12 years from 1928 to 1939 and its was his vision to have the "country clubs" come to town to play at least once each year.
The overall winner was the Gleniti Club from Timaru with a score of +14, in second on +11 were Rakaia who recovered from a slow start to perform with credit, in third place were the previously well performed Tai Tapu team. It was interesting to note the rivalry between Rakaia and Mayfield where there was definitely more at stake than just pride - long discussions were held as to which Hotel on the return trip would be visited and who would be paying.
Leading home the Club members was the team of Paul Dunn, JD, Mark Fiebig, & Simon Yorke with an impressive score of +20, an inquiry may yet follow. In second in what would normally be a winning score of +16 was Grant Mitchell, Joe Mullins, Barry O'Neill & Andrew Vincent. Back in third by comparison on a mere +14 were 2 family combinations Jack & Ian MacDonald with Don & Ryan Forbes.
If you can not win at least you want to avoid receiving the wooden spoon. For the visiting clubs that dubious honour went to the Akaroa team on -2 who were lead by a long time Christchurch member Ken Elliott - obviously local knowledge was of limited help. Graham Clark, Ian Walker, Ahmad Hosseini & Jeff Suddens received the trophy on behalf of the members on +3. I suspect the comment "At least we got a prize!!" was more in frustration than anything else.
The day was a great success with a very friendly and appreciative gathering in the Clubhouse at the end of the day. The comments from the visitors reinforced to the members present the value and goodwill generated by this Match as well as many expressions as to the high standard of the course and its presentation (we don't know how lucky we are!!)!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment