The Masters at Hunstanton
As tradition dictates then this season's Round Norfolk Golf tour kicked off at Hunstanton with the Masters. The first major had attracted a bumper field of 6 chasing the huge £5 first prize that would see the winner head straight to the top of this year's money list in the race to Sheringham.
Golf Pig was also pleased to see such a large field as he was stuffed full of entry fees.
As defending champion Chris got to tee off first and get the season underway. A good drive plus monster putt saw her first 3 points of the year on the board, after 3 more points on the second as well her round then started to fall away as she finished the front 9 with 14 pts.
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| Defending champion Chris getting proceedings underway |
Bob was feeling a bit poorly after attending last night's previous master champions dinner, with Chris, and suspected foul play. He also started with a par but soon tired to only register 13 at the turn.
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| One of two good drives from Bob today on the first, he waited until the 18th for the second one |
The final player in the group was John B. Apparently he hadn't hit a bad drive for at least 6 months but the excitement of getting his first free captains courtesy round was too much as he failed to reach the fairway with his drive and the first blob of the year was registered. However he soon turned things round and got an impressive 17 pts on the following front 9 holes.
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| John B misfiring on the first |
Kevin was a nervous player as a win today would make him the first player to complete the career grand slam. A solid par settled the nerves but a couple of bad drives restricted his scoring to 16 at halfway.
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| Kevin just stayed in bounds on the 5th to scramble a couple of points |
David was making his debut in a major but he played like a majors veteran as he produced some excellent golf to have the halfway lead on 19.
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| One of many bunker shots David had during his excellent start |
Jill was hoping for a better start to this year's tour after not performing well in the corresponding tournament last year. An opening pair of blobs didn't bode well but she hung on with 13 pts over the remaining holes.
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| Jill willing her putt in but to no avail |
As the players entered the back nine there was a big change in weather conditions as the warm sun turned to a cold and strong wind. Fortunately the wind was helping for most of the way in but it wasn't to John's liking as he started to fade with 3 blobs in the last 5 holes and 28 at the end.
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| Front group in the zone |
Bob was still struggling and with seven1 pointers only added 10 more points for a total of 23. His suggestion, to the fair and independent rules committee, that he put forward in the club house after the round was quickly rejected as he wanted a player's worst 2-3 rounds not to count in the tours competitions. I wonder why?
Chris had a strong back 9 and despite missing a few good chances accumulated 17 more points and 31 in total to be leader on the bench behind the 18th green.
The real action was in the second group where the scores and leadership kept chopping and changing.
Kevin was first to fall as 3 double bogeys on hols 15 through 17 put him out of contention. However a final par on 18 also put him on 31 pts to finish with a share of 3rd place and his first 50p earnings of the year.
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| Kevin managed to avoid water hazard on 10 but still lead to his only blob today |
Jill and David came down the last tied on 31 pts and when Jill's drive went in the fairway bunker and then two shots later in the greenside one it looked all over before an excellent sand save gave her the one point needed to take the lead.
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| Jills fairway bunker shot on 18 just got the ball out |
Meanwhile David's drive had gone down a hole in the rough which appeared to be animal made so thanks to a fortunate free drop he also managed to scramble a point and finish on 32.
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| David in trouble on 17 let Jill back in to the game |
The fair and independent rules committee held an emergency meeting (with himself) and ruled that if a major was tied countback would be used to decide the winner although the prize money would still be shared (this was then retrospectively applied to the 2015 US PGA which had also been tied with John B now shown as the outright winner, which cheered him up).
Jill wanted to know where her green jacket was and she was pointed in the direction of the local charity shop. Chris and Bob are already looking forward to seeing what she plans to serve up at next years previous masters champions dinner although Bob will probably be bringing his own sandwiches.
After what was one of the most exciting opening events on record, it looks like being an exciting season as the tour moves on to Diss next week
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