Round Norfolk Golf Tour summer comp 2016. Round 21 at Wensum Valley, Wensum course

Yesterday saw Round Norfolk Golf Tour summer comp 2016 round 21 take place at Wensum Valley on the Wensum course. It was a big day for the tour as total prize money for the year hit the £100 mark for the first time ever. Thus making it the richest such competition anywhere in the Norwich area, probably. As such 4 players had been attracted to compete for today's £2.50 first prize.

It was a very hot day and the Wensum is a very long course so it was always going to be a bit of a slog. David turned up just as we were about to tee off as he had been doing urgent painting on one of his adventure golf courses. This was clearly not an ideal way to start as he scored only one point on each of the first 4 holes before consolidating on the next few holes. He then announced that as he wasn't scoring well he would focus on the blobs contest and employ a blob avoidance management strategy. Inevitably this led to him recording his first blob on the next hole as he finished the front 9 on 12 points.

David putting up to the 3rd for a point

Bob had a solid start before exploding into action by birding holes 4 and 5 to be 3 under handicap after just 5 holes and suddenly back in contention in a number of this years competitions as well as a clear leader on the day. As long as he didn't get carried away, keep hitting balls into water & woods and score more than 1 point over the next 4 holes he would be in a very strong position. Sadly that's exactly what he did do and at half way found him languishing in 3rd place on 14 pts.

Bobs teeshot over the pond at the 5th for his 2nd birdie

Kevin was going along nicely when on the 8th tee he announced how well he had played this tricky hole in last years competition. Once again the golfing gods did not look kindly on this arrogant outburst so it was no surprise that his teeshot bounced down the river before putting his next ball into the green side pond. A 3  putt on the 9th restricted him to 16 points at halfway.

Kevin shanking his tee shot round the corner on the 4th

Meanwhile while all around everyone else was getting into difficult Ian was going steadily about his business before taking his opportunity with excellent pars on the tricky, water rich, 7th and 8th holes. Then out of the blue he shanked his approach on the very long 9th to scramble a point for his first slip up but despite this he still held a 3 point lead at the turn.

Nice chip on to the green from Ian at the second

David's blob avoidance management strategy on the back 9 seemed to work well although he didn't score many points he kept any more nil points off his card but still finished in last place on 26 pts.

David putting up towards a par on the short 12th

Ian started poorly on the back with just 1 point in the first 2 holes while both Kevin and Bob started more strongly. After 13 holes it was 22 for Bob, 23 Kevin and 24 Ian so all to play for.

However Bob was the first to crack and a few poor teeshots meant he only reached 30 pts to claim the 50p 3rd place prize. 

Bob stuck in bunker on 15th finishing off his challenge

Ian was next to faulted with double bogeys at 15 and 16 when he found the water hazard on each to finish on 32.

Ian looking hopefully for his ball in the pond at 15, he never found it

Kevin finished strongly with 2 pars in the last 3 holes and 34 points in total and took away the £2.50 first prize to lift his season earnings over the £30 mark.

Long putt from Kevin on 13th. David was new to snapping on course photos
 but Kevin confirmed that he was always happy to be taken from behind

There are just two weeks left but most competitions are still undecided, here is a summary going into the round at Sprowston next Wednesday.

Money list. Kevin's win increased has now unassailable lead and he will end the year top of the earnings chart for cash to spare. His tactic of playing more rounds than anyone else has proved to be a good one.

Average Stableford points. This is incredibility close with 4 players now separated by a third of a point averaging between 31.30 and 31.64 points and all with a chance of winning. Chris currently leads by 0.01 points from Mike but Ian and Kevin, also separated by 0.01, could still easily catch up with two high scoring rounds. Despite David's poor round today he could still snatch the prize by scoring  34 points or more in the final two rounds.

Eclectic (off half handicap). Bobs second birdie today extended his lead over Kevin to 1.4 with everyone else now out of the running.

Most Stableford points in a round. Kevin has led since mid June when his 40 pts won the US Open at Woodbridge but with good scoring conditions and some large fields it is certainly not a guaranteed winning score.

Average blobs per round. Chris's all round consistency means she leads by someway averaging only 2.07 blobs per round and it would take another tour record blob round for her to be caught by most players although David is now targeting this and will win if he avoids getting more than 5 blobs over the final two rounds.

Best combined front and back 9 in July, August and September. Ian has a two point lead with 41 points. But with Chris (21) and Bob (20) having good front 9's and Kevin (20), Mike(20) and Sandie(20) having good back 9s then they all remain in the hunt.