The Jubilee Trophy on Saturday was won by Eddie Winn and his partner Pete Langstaff, who blew the field away scoring 42 points winning by 3 points from Karandeep Sohel & Andy Houlding, Graham Etherington and his father John, Matthew Fawke and his partner Matthew Robinson who all scored 39 points. Simon Stephens and Andrew Gibson took the best gross prize with 31 points.
Sunday saw a fantastic finish to the Yorkshire Order of Merit between Moortown's Ben Firth and Phil Tomkinson. Playing together Ben turned it on in the afternoon scoring a one under par 70 to outscore Phil by 5 shots having both scored 73's in the morning. Phil had done enough though to hold onto his lead in the order of merit courtesy of his sixth place finish, beating Ben by just 66 points over the season. The scoreboard was littered with Moortown success, with Ben second behind Ben Hutchinson from Howley Hall whose two sub-par rounds of 70 and 69 proved too good for anyone. Paul Snowden proved there is life in the old dog yet with a great 5th place and Tom Gray won the best nett for the second year running.
Click here to see the full Moortown Masters Results.
Click here to see the Moortown Masters Prize Breakdown.
The final Ilkley Moortown match for John Hammond (the Ilkley pro for 38 years) resulted in a fine win for the Moortown team to retain the Cleek. The match was played on a Friday to enable some guests to come to the dinner and say cheerio to Hammo - who as I mentioned last week is totally unique. It must have been a good night judging how rough I felt on Saturday morning!
It is the rearranged Hutchinson Salver this Saturday - again the question of slow play has raised its head. As a trial we are asking each group to record their time that they reach the halfway house by recording it on the sheet down there and then by entering their score immediately on the PSI as this will time stamp your round as well as filling in the box on the card with the time you completed your round.
So golf was in the spotlight over the weekend, with Suzann Petersen at the Solheim Cup not conceding a putt to Alison Lee. My take on it was that Petersen was almost off the green and Charley Hull marched off as soon as the first put was missed. I think the referee was at fault as there is a decision in the rules that would have allowed him to replace the ball. Decision 2-4/3 states:
Player Lifts Ball in Mistaken Belief That Next Stroke Conceded
Q
In a match between A and B, B made a statement which A interpreted to mean that his (A's) next stroke was conceded. Accordingly, A lifted his ball. B then said that he had not conceded A's next stroke. What is the ruling?
A
If B's statement could reasonably have led A to think his next stroke had been conceded, in equity (Rule 1-4) A should replace his ball as near as possible to where it lay, without penalty. Otherwise, A would incur a penalty stroke for lifting his ball without marking its position - Rule 20-1 - and he must replace his ball as near as possible to where it lay.
The referee said he asked all members of the group and nothing had been said but with the very noisy spectators a misunderstanding could easily have happened. Anyway the whole thing sparked the Americans into life and they played fantastically to win the cup.
All credit to Suzann Petersen to come out later with a lengthy apology:
"I've never felt more gutted and truly sad about what went down Sunday on the 17th green. I am so sorry for not thinking about the bigger picture in the heat of the battle and competition. I was trying my hardest for my team and put the single match and the point that could be earned ahead of sportsmanship and the game of golf itself! I feel like I let my team down and I am sorry. To the US team, you guys have a great leader in Juli, who I've always looked up to and respect so much. Knowing I need to make things 'right,' I had a face-to-face chat with her before leaving Germany this morning to tell her in person how I really feel about all of this. I wanted her also to know that I am sorry. I hope in time the US team will forgive me and know that I have learned a valuable lesson about what is truly important in this great game of golf which has given me so much in my life. The Solheim Cup has been a huge part of my career. I wish I could change Sunday for many reasons. Unfortunately I can't. This week I want to push forward toward another opportunity to earn the Solheim Cup back for Europe in the right way. And I want to work hard to earn back your belief in me as someone who plays hard, plays fair and plays the great game of golf the right way."
The PGA of GB & I beat their American counterparts to win the Llandudno Trophy (the Club Professionals Ryder Cup) and etch their names into the history books by defeating the United States 13.5-12.5 for the first time on American soil at CordeValle, California. An enthralling Sunday singles went right down to the final hole of the five sessions before Niall Kearney (who won the Brabzon Trophy at Moortown in 2009) coolly drained an eight foot putt to secure the victory.
Jason Day proved he is the golfer of the moment and moved to number one in the world with his second win the FedEx series at the BMW Championship. Rory is showing good signs that his A game is not far away, I think he will win The Tour Championship this week with Zach Johnson second, but I think Day, Spieth or Fowler will finish in the top 3 to scoop the big prize of $10,000,000. Hopefully it will be exciting.
The take up for the winter coaching packages has been really good so we only have a few places left.
The Package
5 Months 1st Nov - 31st March
Unlimited Lessons
20 x ½ Practice Sessions in the Swing Studio
ALL FOR £50 A MONTH PAYABLE BY STANDING ORDER
Advantages......
1. Expert PGA coaching & advice
2. Warm, dry & comfortable environment to learn & practice
3. Full use of Video Analysis software
4. Full use of GC2 & new HMT Launch Monitor technology
5. Analyse every shot struck with any club in your bag
6. GC2 measures yardage of every shot hit from any club + much more
7. Use of simulator software to practice on a certain famous golf hole
8. Use of quality premium golf balls
9. Cost of range balls going just once a week throughout the winter approx. £150
10. Full use of Huxley Putting Mat
11. Full use of array of Training Aids
12. Ability to book 7 days a week, not just off peak times
13. Never have to cancel due to bad weather
If you've been thinking about click here to sign up.
