2019 Major 1 - Belton Woods
Twenty runners and riders were gathered for the event, including two new faces. Lynette Mapp, the Lady Captain at Wanstead Golf Club and Marcus Bernard, the son of longstanding member Mayhe “Mayhem” Bernard, who was a guest for the event. There was also a change of runner with Kevin Thomas pulling up lame and being replaced by Colin Parson.
Once all the friendly chat and banter was completed, and the betting slips filled in, the new Captain for the next two years – Stuart Austrie – opened proceedings with a welcome speech, followed by informing everyone of the running order for the weekend. With the formalities over, it was down to business. The groups made their way out of the stables bar and made their way to the driving range to warm up before heading to the first tee.
The first round was played on the more difficult Lakes Course. As the name suggests, there was water a plenty, and many a golfer found their shots coming up short like an old nag at Beecher’s Brook. Despite the carnage, a few of the old names found their way to the top of the field at the end of the round. Steve “Controversy” Garner led the way with 33 points, closely followed by Tye “Coach” Carter on 32 points. In 3rd and 4th places were Cass “Santiguan” Browne (30pts) and Colin “Dark Lord” Parson (29pts). There were a couple of surprising names trailing by a couple of furlongs after the first round – Keith Murray had an unusually frustrating day coming in with 21 points. He had good company with Andy Ferdinand (21pts).
Dinner Saturday evening was the usual enjoyable event, with plenty of drink, laughter and banter. Captain Austrie brought the formal part of the evening to an end by reading out the groupings for the 2nd day. This included calling out an unofficial pairs event in the last group where Keith Murray and Andy Ferdinand would lock horns with Lynette Mapp and Ingrid Clarke – More on that later…
Sunday morning came around a lot sooner than some would have wanted, and after breakfast, it was out for a lap of Belton Woods’ 2nd Course – The Woods. As usual, the leading group were the last out, with everyone waiting to see who out of Steve, Tye, Cass and Colin would bring home the spoils. As would become evident from the overall scores, the Woods Course played a lot easier than the Lakes, with the eventual winner being decided by who could most take advantage of the friendlier scoring conditions. Some notable scores from the day were Captain Stuart Austrie and Frank “Burger” Baptiste with 41 points and Colin Parson with 38 points. This all meant that just like the story of the two dogs fighting over a bone and a third running off with it, Stuart (67pts) came through from the penultimate group to pip Colin (67pts) to 1st place on countback. Frank (65pts) stormed through from an earlier group to take 3rd by a nose, leaving Steve (63pts) in Arsenal 4th and Cass (62pts) in 5th. Congratulations Stuart on an excellent victory.
At the presentation ceremony, Stuart also claimed both nearest the pin prizes and Keith “Teeeeeth” Murray made up for his poor showing over the weekend by winning the Longest drive. In the impromptu pairs competition, the ladies – Lynette and Ingrid – took the spoils, despite Andy winning the group (no thanks to his partner). Frank Baptiste also presented Tye with a pair of scissors to help in “adjusting” his handicap. We fear that something more akin to an Axe will be utilised, and Frank can kiss goodbye to his lucky number 24.
The blob money was collected on both days of the event which will be donated to Prostate Cancer UK, and as usual, we all gave generously (some a lot more than others), and in total £130 was collected for the very worthy cause. I’m still not sure whether to praise our collective generosity or lament at our poor golfing.
Stuart brought the event to a close and it’s onwards and upwards to Aspley Guise and Woburn on the 10th May.