Who'd a' thunk it!!!!
What a week. I qualified about middle of the 16 qualifiers with back to back 74's and in the round of 16 beat a decent 5 handicapper despite playing some icky golf only to meet the best player in the club (+1/+2 player) in the Quarter Finals
!!!
I was two up after 9 and then he decided to turn up and birdied 10,11 and 12 to get back to square (I birdied 11 also). Standing on 13 (180 yard par 3 up a steep hill to a wicked sloping green, one of the hardest holes on our course) I said to my caddie 'just weather the storm, we're still square and its a tough finish, par golf home will be solid' Stiffed my tee shot and holed out for a 2 and 1 up again. Then he went for the green on the par 4 14th and ended up in the 3 foot high stuff that our greenkeeper is so fond of. Lost ball and 2 up. Pars home to win the match!! What a result !
Semi final wasnt much easier. Playing a multiple finalist and solid match player. All square after 9 and halved all the way to 16 where I made a silly error in clubbing which led to a bogey and 1 down with 2 to play. I was pretty pi$$ed at myself for the mistake
but my caddie really earned his corn on the tee telling me to calm down
and 2 pars would see me playing extra time. I hit a good drive but a poor second to be pin high about 25 feet away. Meanwhile my opponent had found some of the thicker semi and ended up short of the green and pitched to about 8 feet. I stuck my chip to 2 feet and he missed his putt. I managed to jam mines in and be all square up the last. Adrenaline must have been surging on teh 18th tee cos I pured one 320 right down the middle leaving a wedge to the green. The other guy drove into the semi again, could only knock one 40 yards short of the green into some thick grass and could only move it about 5 yards. He left the chip short and then lipped out for 5!!! I was 20 foot away with 3 putts for it and he rather sportingly conceded the match. My first final awaited!
The final was 36 hole affair. Playing another quality match player I managed to get to the 9th 2 up but he started back 3 3 3 3 to get back to square. Then I had a bit of a bad spell and had to make a couple of up and downs to keep the deficit to just the one hole after 18.. I started the afternoon round in the worst way by losing the first drive
. So 2 down I then stuck the drive on the 20th hole into the deep grass again
. I managed to find it this time and had a word with myself and managed to half the hole. I won the 4th 5th, 7th and 8th to go 2 up but lost the 9th to go back to 1 up. My opponent then suffered the same crisis I had late in the first 18 and lost 10 and 11 to be 3 down after 30 holes. I won the 13th and hit a good solid drive down 14. The other guy missed the fairway a good way right and hit a great approach shot that was just too fiery and bounced through the green. I pitched one to 20 feet and he chipped to 8 feet. I rolled my first putt to 2 feet and it was conceded. This left him a nasty 8 foot downhill left to right breaker to keep the match going. He took a bit of time over it, quite rightly, and hit a great putt. I was already walking backwards on my way to the next tee when the ball hit the back of the cup and then unbelievably rimmed the cup and stayed out. I stood there for a few moments not quite sure of what had just happened. Then the match referee called out 'Darryl wins the hole in 4, wins the match and the championship'
.
I had to make a speech and everything!! But thats the name up on the big board!!
An absolutely incredible experience, it may never happen again, but at least for one week in June 2005 I was the best match play player in the club.
D.
What a week. I qualified about middle of the 16 qualifiers with back to back 74's and in the round of 16 beat a decent 5 handicapper despite playing some icky golf only to meet the best player in the club (+1/+2 player) in the Quarter Finals

I was two up after 9 and then he decided to turn up and birdied 10,11 and 12 to get back to square (I birdied 11 also). Standing on 13 (180 yard par 3 up a steep hill to a wicked sloping green, one of the hardest holes on our course) I said to my caddie 'just weather the storm, we're still square and its a tough finish, par golf home will be solid' Stiffed my tee shot and holed out for a 2 and 1 up again. Then he went for the green on the par 4 14th and ended up in the 3 foot high stuff that our greenkeeper is so fond of. Lost ball and 2 up. Pars home to win the match!! What a result !
Semi final wasnt much easier. Playing a multiple finalist and solid match player. All square after 9 and halved all the way to 16 where I made a silly error in clubbing which led to a bogey and 1 down with 2 to play. I was pretty pi$$ed at myself for the mistake


The final was 36 hole affair. Playing another quality match player I managed to get to the 9th 2 up but he started back 3 3 3 3 to get back to square. Then I had a bit of a bad spell and had to make a couple of up and downs to keep the deficit to just the one hole after 18.. I started the afternoon round in the worst way by losing the first drive



I had to make a speech and everything!! But thats the name up on the big board!!

An absolutely incredible experience, it may never happen again, but at least for one week in June 2005 I was the best match play player in the club.
D.
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