Tour 2009 - Castle Douglas

Congratulations to Ed Green on becoming this years Tour Champion. In the Stableford Competition which covered all three days, it was a very close contest with Ed just clinching it with a total of 92 points and just 1 point ahead of second placed Kevin Abell on 91 points followed by Les Smith on 84 points. In the Strokeplay Competition Ed ran out an easy winner hitting 254 strokes. However, it was a different story for second place with father and son Les and Phil Smith both tied on 270 strokes and Phil just taking second place on count back. A Society Rule which does not allow the same person to take home both the Stableford Trophy and the Strokeplay Trophy meant that Phil Smith was presented with the Strokeplay Trophy for the Tour.

The Tour sta

rted at Lochmaben Golf Club an attractive parkland course surrounding the Kirk Loch, which had excellent views and a course we all said we would like to play again. The weather had been fairly wet and cast some doubt as to whether or not we would play. However, despite pranks on the way up (the fine Master informing our Secretary at Teebay Services on his mobile that the course was closed!), the course was open and the tour got under way. Ed Green (handicap 12) started well and scored a winning total of 36 Stableford Points from 82 strokes - the lowest of the day. The Longest Drive award went to Captain Graham Cooke and the Nearest the Pin was awarded to Kevin Sherwin. The “Piggin Awful” Trophy went to Richard Meadowcroft. In The Captains Cup it looked as though the Vale had started their defence in a fine style by winning 3 points to 2 after the first days play. All in all a good days golf.

It was then off to the Crown Hotel in Castle Douglas to start the serious business of downing a few jars of beer and to relax so that we could prepare for our dangerous mission “Operation Flying PIGS” - which was scheduled for the Saturday Night—weather permitting! Yes, we were all nervous, perhaps that was the reason why the beer flowed on our first night which moved away from our normally traditional early night to bed on the Friday night.

On Saturday it was off to Kirkcudbright Golf Club, an old favourite, for an 11am tee-off. What a start to the day—poured down for the first few holes and I am sure we all thought we were in for a drowning. However, the rain lifted and the sun came through to make it a very enjoyable round of golf. . The Stableford Winner for

the day was Kevin Abell with a creditable 32 points - winning on count back from Jon Downs and Les Smith both on 32 points. Lowest Strokeplay for the day went to Les Smith with 85 strokes. Winner of the Longest Drive was Phil Smith and the Nearest the Pin Trophy went to Andrew Abell. The “Piggin Awful” Trophy went to Phil Stonier. On to the Captains Cup - a fabulous Day for the Potters hammering the Vale by 4 points to one - a good old stuffing.

So, it was off to Dumfrieshire Golf Club, formerly called The Pines Golf Club - a poor course compared to previous courses we have played in Scotland. The greens were generally very poor and not a course we would return to in the near future. The question to be answered - could Ed Green cope with his reduced handicap of 10 and return a Stableford score that would give him the Stableford Tour Championship. The Strokeplay Competition looked to be in the bag as he was already some 14 shots a head of his nearest challengers. The Welshman played well, he kept his nerve and returned 29 points from 85 strokes to clinch the Stableford Competition by just one point from Kevin Abell, The Stableford Competition was won by

Phil Stonier on 29 points and the Longest Drive went to Richard Meadowcroft and the Nearest the Pin Awards went to Peter Simms. Phil Greatbatch picked up the Piggin Awful trophy.

Finally, in the Captains Cup, well what can I say, in the Singles Matches the Potters thrashed the Vale by 8½ points to 1½ points to take the Captains Cup by 14½points to 5½. Well done to the winning Potters Captain Andrew Abell for his motivational speech to certain players , perhaps a little unorthodox but effective. Well done to Les the Vale Captain...unlucky Les..nahhh you were thrashed!!!!! On the day the Stokies had you Valeites by the short and curleys!!

It was great to be back in Scotland and the hospitality was second to none. Good Hotel, great courses, great company and finally great play by Ed and all of you. Thank you all for paying your deposits and balances on time—it really does help.

Next year we will have a change and head to North Wales where our Champion Golfer will be able to talk to someone that understands him! The Captains Cup was a great success and this will be repeated with a different format for team selection…..oldies against the young un’s…...may be?

Hope you all enjoyed yourselves and let us all look forward to putting our wellies on as we prepare for our next tour to Wales.

9th Annual Tour 2009
Dumfries and Galloway

ANNUAL TOUR DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY, CASTLE DOUGLAS, SCOTLAND 2009 FINAL SCOREBOARD
		Lochmaben			Kirkcudbright			Dumfrieshire		TOTAL SCORES
	H'cap	Points	Strokes	H'cap	Points	Strokes	H'cap	Points	Strokes	POINTS	STROKES
Andrew Abell	19	25	104	19	24	101	19	23	105	72	310
Kevin Abell	17	31	93	16	32	91	15	28	92	91	276
Barry Brereton	15	21	107	15	20	102	17	25	96	66	305
Graham Cooke	17	22	107	17	22	103	17	24	100	68	310
Brian Copestick	15	27	97	15	26	93	15	22	101	75	291
Jon Downs	17	21	104	17	32	89	16	27	95	80	288
Phil Greatbatch	21	27	102	20	24	107	20	16	111	67	320
Ed Green	12	36	82	10	27	87	10	29	85	92	254
Russell Howard	31	22	120	31	14	130	33	21	119	57	369
Peter Meadowcroft	22	28	103	21	26	100	21	27	98	81	301
Richard Meadowcroft	15	20	104	16	31	89	15	26	96	77	289
Steve Ruddell	19	28	103	18	26	99	18	28	94	82	296
Steve Rushton	21	21	111	21	23	107	21	22	105	66	323
Kevin Sherwin	19	31	96	18	25	97	18	27	95	83	288
Peter Simms	15	23	100	15	24	98	15	19	103	66	301
John Smith	21	24	105	21	31	94	20	26	100	81	299
Les Smith	13	26	94	13	32	85	12	26	91	84	270
Phil Smith	8	24	91	8	26	88	8	24	91	74	270
Phil Stonier	13	25	98	13	28	90	13	29	90	82	278

		LOCHMABEN GC			KIRKCUDBRIGHT GC			DUMFRIESHIRE GC
NEAREST THE PIN		Kevin Sherwin			Andrew Abell			Peter Simms
LONGEST DRIVE		Graham Cooke			Phil Smith			Richard Meadowcroft
STABLEFORD WINNER		Ed Green			Kevin Abell			Phil Stonier
STROKEPLAY WINNER		Ed Green			Les Smith			Ed Green
PIGGIN AWFUL PRIZE WINNER		Richard Meadowcroft			Phil Stonier			Phil Greatbatch

OVERALL WINNERS

TOUR STABLEFORD CHAMPION			Ed Green (92 points)
2nd Place			Kevin Abell (91 points)
3rd Place			Les Smith (84 points)

TOUR STROKEPLAY CHAMPION			Ed Green (254 Strokes) Stroke Play Trophy presented to Phil Smith
2nd Place			Phil Smith (270 strokes won on count back)
3rd Place			Les Smith (270 strokes)