President’s Trophy 2021

Match Report President’s Cup Old Course

22.03.2021

With our first 3 events of the year covidized, our March outing was to be the first event of 2021. A lot of excitement to be expected, as we were competing in the last match of the 2020 OOM, had one Quarterfinal Match Play match of 2020 as well as our usual array of prizes for the event itself.

Our last event had been played on November 20th and we had seen a total of 8 cancelled matches during the past twelve months. JP, having scored a Hole in One recently, helped us to wash down the sorrow with a glass of Champagne. Much appreciated, JP.

Welcoming 5 guests and 31 members, we had a very strong field, although unfortunately not all of the top 10 players in the Order of Merit 2020 could join for various reasons. John Mefford and Scott Laws played with us as new members for the first time and we could also welcome back Robert Gazzi, who had not played since June last year.

With temperatures dropping to near arctic levels and very fine course conditions, there were no excuses not to turn up the heat.

Our guests scored very well, and it is good to see that there will be new contenders for the lowest gross in the near future. With a net 2 under Par, Darian Yip came in first, with Brad and Grant also doing very well.

For the first time, the shot of the day had to go to a members’ vote as there were 3 strong contenders. Nigel, fresh off a 75 on North Course with BSW in the prior week, was ready to give it another go. Unfortunately, that did not work out so well, so thinking one prize is better than no prize, he decided to shank his tee shot on the Par 3 12th, shank his pitch shot to somewhere closer to the green and then chip in for par. Quite an achievement. Coming down the stretch on the 18th, he must have then had second thoughts about his result on the 12th possibly not winning him this coveted prize, so he decided to put his tee shot into the carpark instead of the fairway, a shot that would have easily won him longest drive on 17th. Do check your rooftops, you know who is paying.

Matt Burke on the other hand is well known as a strong supporter of Public Transport in Hong Kong. In order to show his appreciation, decided to not put his 4th shot on the green on the 6th, but rather hit a passing bus. It is unreported where the bus was going to, but rumors have it that it was Bus number 8 which prompted him to use his 8 iron. In his defense, he eventually signed for a 10, which would probably have been the fare on the bus. Unfortunately, Matt will not be able to use his GolfAsian voucher to flee to Taiwan any time soon.

As for Nearest to Pin, an event that is highly underrated and not normally covered in match reports, we have four of the five winners with their first name beginning with an N. Nick, Nigel, Nick and Noel. In April it is the turn of the ‘O’s.

We will be organizing a “Marking the Longest Drive Flag” lesson in early April where we will give examples of 0 – 10 and 11 – 18 handicappers.

The keenest team coming in on 68 stableford points in the Cha Cha Cha competition was led by Mr. Kriesel, who also insisted on winning the Keenest Golfer Competition – again! Andre now needs a new car to have enough space for all the Grundig gadgets he has won over the past 6 months.

The Best Team came in with a strong 86 points, Nick, Darian, Jonny and Don. Well done.

Lowest Gross was again won by Raaj Shah with a very good 77 Gross and Noel Prentice beat Peter Boothby in Match Play 2020 with 1up to advance to the Semi Final.

In the main competition, we had 4 players on Net Par or better with Nick Allen scoring a very respectable net 68 to become Runner Up. The winner on a Net 66 started his round with a birdie on the 1st. A very good round and well done, JP.

Of course, this meant that the 2020 OOM would once again have a nail biting finish. In the end, and with Mark Cameron unfortunately not being able to join us, the Kiwis still prevailed and Noel Prentice came in first, beating JP narrowly into second place with Mark coming third, despite not having played.

A very good day at HKGC with Rotunda actually working out well for lunch and prizes. Very nice of Ian to join us for the prize ceremony.

Our next event will again take us to the Old Course in Fanling on April 20th, where we will play the Rob Henderson Trophy in Stableford Format. Invites will be out shortly, and I am hoping for a full field and no late cancellations. Tee off will be at 12.04.

Best Lorenz