Round Norfolk Golf Tour summer comp 2016. Round 9 at Woodbridge

Today saw Round Norfolk Golf Tour summer comp 2016 round 9, the US Open, take place at Woodbridge. It was disappointing that only 4 players had signed up for this prestigious event but as heavy rain was forecast maybe they had made the right choice. Kevin, the defending US Open Champion had turned up to try and defend his title.

Chris and Bob prepare for tricky down hill putts on the 11th hole at Woodridge during the US Open

Due to some old ladies just ahead Chris opted to get things underway on the first tee and started off with a useful par. Sadly this was quickly followed by a visit to the pond on the second and gorse bush on the 4th leading to 4 successive 1 pointers before a strong finish left her on 16 points at half way.

Chris teeiig off up the first

John had the opposite start by parring 2 of the first 4 holes before falling away thanks to a few wayward tee shots. On the par 3 9th he hit his teeshot and said "well it's not perfect....." as it flew towards the woods and gorse and he was proved right as the ball was never seen again. He finished on 14 pts.

A nice chip by John over the bunker on the 5th

Bob was playing well and was proving a dab hand at hitting the ball out of the rough and still scoring highly with some excellent recovery shots. He managed to rack up an impressive 20 pts at the turn.

Bob hitting out of short rough into long rough on 2nd hole before getting up
and down for 5

Kevin was obviously keen to retain his title as he started with 3 straight pars. As someone who doesn't use his own Golf GPS he decided to take the yardage off the sprinkler heads on the 4th only to find the distances shown were completely random as he hit a good wedge into a green side bunker. The GPS users told him the real distance (after he hit his ball) which was 20 yards further. Despite this a birdie on the 8th left him in the lead on 22pts.

Kevin admiring his wedge on the 4th before being surprised it was in a bunker
as the sprinkler head distances were wrong (or so he says)

As the back 9 got underway John's game started to fade as his 'always reliable 19 degree rescue' proved to be anything but. The 17th proved particularly painful as after looking for his teeshot for sometime it was found in the middle of the fairway only for him to plonk it from there straight into a ditch. After much more searching, 2 hacks and a good chip he had a makable putt for an unlikely point. So unlikely in fact that he missed the putt and it was all for nothing. He finished the day on 25 points and therefore out the prizes.

John carting his second shot into the woods and lost forever, on the 11th

Bob's challenge also started to fall away as his teeshots found the rough and he left several balls on the course for other golfers to find and use (as long as they are called Bob). When the rain did arrive for a brief shower during the 12th hole Bob was the only player to leave the green with any points but normal service resumed once the rain had stopped. He could only muster another 11 points over the back 9 to finish on 31. 

Bob in trouble on the 10th, apparently the presence of the paparazzi was why he shanked it
and not the fact he was in long rough behind a gorse bush

With Bobs challenge fading  Kevin took control with 4 pars (and a blob) in the opening 5 back 9 holes, despite blobbing again on the par 3 15th he still managed 18 on the back 9 and 40pts in all to retain his title and collect the big £5 first prize. It was also a course record for Woodbridge.

Kevin putting for Birdie on 13, he missed

The main event now was to see if Chris could overhaul Bob and claim second place. Looking on the scorecard the ladies card had 3 back 9 par 5s compared to none on the men's card. There was much outrage and to add insult to injury Chris went on to par all 3 of these mini par 5 holes for 9 pts compared with the 4 pts Bob got on these long par 4's. This was enough to make all difference as Chris got 18 on the back 9 and 34 in all to win the £2 second place prize.

Tee shot on 9 came up a bit short but still secured 2 points

It's all change at the top of the leader boards as Kevin has headed to the front of all but average blobs per round competition, where Chris's inability to hit it far enough into the trees means she has a commanding lead on the lack of blobs front.

Next week the tour moves onto Weston Park where 7 entrants have signed up before the players then take on Eaton the follow week and a record entry of 8. Winnings will be hard to come by on these days so the tour earnings leaderboard could be set to change.