2019 LSWGS Championship

LSWGS Match Report 20.12. LSW Championship

A fine day at Fanling yesterday saw 18 keen members compete for the LSW Championship trophy. 2 very nice gentlemen, Misch and Christiaan joined as guests.

There was a lot at stake, with not only the championship up for grabs but also the last chance for players to move up in the order of merit. With no 2’s for the prior 170 or so Par 3s played, the burse was a whopping $2600. In addition, we had the match play finals between Stephen and Vance, two very worthy contenders for the match play trophy, played for the first time in living memory in the actual OOM year. Last not least, it was the last chance to get a decent present for the spouse as the keenest golfer.

After 4 hours and a bit the results were in and following complex regression analysis further complicated by a change in the course layout, our in-house lawyer Andrew and your match secretary Lorenz computed the scores.

Jim not only managed to win a longest drive and a nearest to pin but also succeeded in winning a beautiful ladies’ watch and a fantastic set of golf balls as the keenest golfer. He now has a box of distance Titanium Golf Balls and is selling them on Ebay in case anyone is interested.

The remaining longest drives and nearest to pins were won by 7 players with Mark winning the sharpshooter prize with only 19 shots on the 6 Par 3’s.

The yellow Snell balls proved to have a strong liking for forests with none of the teams managing to complete the round. We’ll try pink Callaway the next time.

Our shot of the day was introduced very entertainingly by Jim with photo proof at hand, apparently already trending on Twitter. Notker decided to try a somersault or something similar on the second tee box, tripping over his golf cart and resulting in a hard landing and ripped pants.

The match committee briefly considered disqualifying him for not wearing proper golf attire for 17 holes but in the end decided that him having to reimburse the club for the damage done to the golf cart was a big enough fine. A US$ 100 Golf Asian Voucher came as a reward.

In match play, Stephen and Vance played in a highly contested match resulting in a 2&1 win for Stephen. Well done to both and congrats to Stephen, who also managed to win the lowest gross, a longest drive and, most importantly, half of the 2’s burse. A very profitable day indeed for Stephen.

Inspired by Stephen’s stellar performance, Peter Boothby decided to dig in and managed to win not only the 2^nd half of the 2’s burse but also came runner up once again, despite his reduced handicap. Definitely a strong contender for the Race to Little Sai Wan aka OOM trophy next year.

Last but not least, the only contender for the OOM trophy in the field, Jonny Brock, had to come at least second to win the coveted Crystal Trophy. Additional pressure was put on him due to the change in course layout resulting in a HC reduction but none of that could put him off and with an excellent net 69 against Stephen’s and Peter’s 70, he managed not only to win the Championship trophy but also the Order of Merit. Well deserved after a very good season. 

Noel, who unfortunately could not play yesterday was pushed to 2^nd place in the Order of Merit but a $500 Pro Shop Voucher should prove to be a good consolation prize.

The day was concluded with a very nice Chinese lunch, prepared by HKGC team and plenty of banter around the tables. Thanks to everyone how played. Looking forward to what will be an exciting 2020 golf year for the society.