Rob Draper wins the 2019 Club Championship!
Last weekend we held our Club Championship which is a two round strokeplay event which determines arguably the best golfer at the club.
Two trophies are up for grabs on the weekend: the Club Championship Trophy which goes to the player with the lowest aggregate gross score, and the Ted Key Trophy which goes to the player with the best accumulative net score.
We made a slight change to the format this year in that we told all the entrants that the top 16 gross scores from the first round would be seeded into selected fourballs on the Sunday morning so that the leaders were all playing together.
As it was the first time we had ever put this seeded tee format into play, we were a little apprehensive how it would be received by the entrants, so you can imagine our delight when every player in the top 16 embraced and priased the idea.
On the Saturday (first round) scoring was disappointing from most players apart from Lee Webster who posted a solid 71 gross to lead by four shots from Mike Taylor and James Sprangle. Other notable players had higher scores such as Steve Sorrenson on 76, Rob Draper on 76 and Chris Young on 78 - all of these players were disappointed with their efforts.
Going into day two and it was arguably Lee’s championship to lose, but as we all know in golf it’s not over until the last putt drops.
Rob Draper was in the penultimate fourball and was playing very solid golf on what was a reasonably tough day on the golf course with the wind blowing around 15-20mph. Meanwhile Webster was having a wobble on the first nine holes with a string of bogeys to post a +6 score of 41. It was all to play for!
As the first fourballs of the top sixteen came in they all stayed around the 18th green to see how the Championship reached its climax - and it didn’t disappoint! Draper parred the last hole for 71, which meant that Lee needed a level gross back 9 to take it to a play-off.
Unfortunately for Lee, a bogey on the par-3 17th hole cost him, and he missed a 25 foot birdie putt on 18, meaning that Rob was crowned the 2019 Club Champion after overturning a four shot defecit! The Ted Key Trophy went to Shaun McGeachy who scored a fantastic net total of 6-under par.