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BDGA Tour #4 - The Essex 2011 Open

Round 1:

Saturday started the weekends great weather with blazing sunshine and after a quick players meeting and crossed fingers that you were not starting on hole 5 over the lake we were ready to do battle. I had the pleasure of Neal Pickett, Neil Martin (first time here) and local boy and wild card entry Jamie McEye. It was a great round full of laughs and learning but while I was happy to be keeping pace with open player Neal I felt Jamie (playing Adv Am) just kept nudging forward and sure enough Neal and I (also playing Adv Am) finished on 64 while Jamie cleaned up on a 59 one under par. Neil (playing Int Am) finished on a strong 69. The course was proving to be it's usual challenging self sorting the men from the boys and throwing up some interesting results with Jamie McEye placed 4th behind Del, Jesse and tied with James Luton. Local Ace Race Hero Dan Eagle (Adv Am) muscled into the second pack tied 5th with Paul Cooper in front of Chris O'Brien and Woody. The 3rd pack was tight with Adv Ams Terry Tenger and Mark Fleetham tied with Sue a shot ahead of Neal. The 4th pack saw Int Am and first time competition player Chris Hughes tied on 64 with Phil Wood and myself one shot ahead of local “I've eagled hole 8 nine times now!” Open player Ross Poole. Other upsets saw Int Am players Sam Stevens, James Coles, Neil Martin and Gabe Hurgeton beat a lot of Adv Am guys while several Open players slipped down into Adv Am groups. Avg for a Open round was 63, Adv Am was 68 and Int Am was 74. Course Par for this comp was 60 so clearly some first round jitters.

Round 2:

After a superb lunch, during which much exchanging of war stories and head scratching as far as round 1 was concerned, with the sun still beating down I joined my group slightly pleased to be top card but also wondering how to catch Jamie. In my group were Phil Wood who was tied 4th with me, Chris Hughes leading the Int Am's and Ross Poole. Everyone was on top form, which was a shame because it meant I'd have to use every local trick I knew to beat Phil and his amazing sidearm. Ross picked his game up but let just one or two get away from him and Chris just seemed to be loving the course and playing it. After what was a great round I was still tied with Phil (my now NEMESIS, we tied in the Hyzer Cup too) on 60, Ross shot a 61 and Chris another great 65. The top group saw Del and James tie on 57 while Jesse shot a great 56 and Jamie a 61 (good news for me). Group two saw Chris O'Brien on a happy 58, Dan Eagle on a 60 (bad news for me), and Paul Cooper on a hard fought 61 while Woody only managed a 66. Group three must have seen Neal turn himself around as he finished on 58. Terry and Mark who had tied the first round on 63 finished the second tied on 64 just pipping Sue who had  65.  Other scores worthy of note were Sophie on a beautiful 59 and a PB of 66 for local Int Am Dan Waxman.  Avg for a Open round was 61, Adv Am was 66 and Int Am was 74.

The events didn't stop here though, after a short break everyone had a go at the potluck RING OF FIRE. I say potluck as my talent for putting at that range is 50/50 at best. The winners of yet more limited edition stamped plastic were Sam Stevens, Connor Holden, Terry Tenger and Tom Lowes.

Round 3:

Sunday morning started the same as Saturday with the weather looking to be just as glorious. I was in the lead group joint 4th with Phil 3 shots behind Eagle who was 1 shot behind Jamie. The pressure was on and we were all close and aware that Sophie was more than capable of shooting another 59. With Phil and his huge sidearm, Eagle and his left handedness (and putting) and Jamie with his complete unfazededness (new word, I own the rights) I was going to have keep the round as clean as possible and just be on damage control. The round was like a roller coaster with pars, birdies and bogeys on nearly every hole being shared it seemed equally. I say seemed because as I'd consigned myself to a hopeful 3rd I hadn't realisedthat Jamie was on for and got another 59 (total 179). Phil pulled 2 shots on Eagle with a 63 (total 187). Eagle finished on a frustrating 65 (total 186) and I played BOB with a 66 (total 190). As predicted Sophie shot a 60, which leapfrogged her in joint 2nd with Eagle on 186. The Open players saw Del shoot a  (best of the comp) 54, James a 57, Chris a 58 and Jesse a 62. Ross played out of his skin notching up another eagle on hole 8 and finishing on 57, unfortunately Paul had also slept in his own bed Saturday night and keen to show what a nice sleep can do shot a 59 and pipped Ross into the finals by 1 shot. In the Int Ams Chris Hughes continued to dominate (he plays a lot with Ben Foxhall if you wondering where you'd seen that style), Gary O'Malley improved once more going from 70 to 68 to 64, Sam Stevens and Neil Martin both shot a solid 68. Local James Coles shot a cracking 63 (best Int Am score overall) unfortunately his good friend Justin (Juddy) Hayes shot a 66 which forced a playoff which Juddy won getting him into the final 5.  Avg for a Open round was 62, Adv Am was 65 and Int Am was 73.

Finals:

The final nine holes at Essex can be a true test of your game as 6 of the holes are modified. Hole 1 had a new tee back and to the right making it a turnover shot (par 3). Hole 2 played from a tee on the left of the fairway going up in between the trees with 2 mandos (par 3). Hole 3 played to the basket of hole 4 (par 4). Hole 4 played 5's tee over the lake then hard left to the basket of hole 9 (par 5). Hole 5 was hole 10 (par 3). Hole 6 was hole 13 (par 3). Hole 7 was hole 14 (par 4). Hole 8 teed from  in front of the building down and left of the tee of hole 15 up to the basket of hole 16 (par 5). Hole 9 played from hole 17's tee to the first basket over the road (par 3).

The Int Ams were saved from this onslaught and played the last 5 finals holes only. They kept it close with Gary O'Malley, Neil Martin and Juddy shooting 20, Chris Hughes on 21 and Sam Stevens on 22.

Adv Ams: 4 out of the 5 finalists were local so Essex was well represented.  Having re-consigned myself to a joyous 5th I decided to just have fun and give the crowd (all 10 or so of them) a laugh, if you were there you'll know what I mean. With Eagle trailing Jamie by 7 shots but knowing that finals par was 33 it was officially ON! And so it was with  shots being dropped like they were going out of fashion Eagle mounted his assault. With Sophie putting an up shot long and wet on the approach to actual hole 4's basket suddenly Phil was in with a look too. Going over the lake didn't fair any better as both Jamie and Sophie took a dip (they should have employed my SKAADOSH technique). The pressure continued to mount on all of us with missed putts, rollaways (curse you BlowFly), buildings being hit (sorry Eagle but that’s what you get for throwing lefty), ob roads (me again) etc etc. It ended on the last hole with Eagle one shot behind Jamie, a birdie would force a playoff (Dave and Barney repeat of last year) and this is the easiest hole on the course. What happened........ ironically I birdied it and no one else did so Jamie won.

As for the Open final the only upset was Jesse Denny dropping 3 shots, which unfortunately was enough for Chris O'Brien to take 3rd. Del, James and Chris shot 31 in the final, Jesse 34 and Paul Cooper 35.

Results:Open

1st Derek Robins........197
2nd James Luton.........204
3rd Chris O'brian........209
4th Jesse Denny.........210
5th Paul Cooper..........217

Adv Am

1st James McEye.........218
2nd Dan Eagle.............219
3rd Phil Wood............221
4th Paul Stoddart........227=
4th Sophie Southgate...227=

Inter Am

1st Chris Hughes........217
2nd Gary O'Malley.......222
3rd Sam Stevens........224
4th Neil Martin..........225
5th Justin Hayes........226

Top Lady
Sophie Southgate

Spirit of the Game
Chris Rowland

Saturday
Open Long Drive.....P Cooper
Open Longest Putt...S Kornmuller
Am Long Drive.......B Foxall
Am Longest Putt.....D Eagle

Sunday
Open Long Drive.....J Luton
Open C.T.P...........R Wood
Am Long Drive.......P Wood
Am C.T.P.............S Cardwell

Ring of Fire
Sam Stevens
Tom Lowes
Conner Holden
Terry Tenger

Essex Special Award
After checking our records we confirmed that Steve Broster is in fact only 8 years old. As such his Essex Special Award of 'Top Junior' was presented. I should point out that Steve Broster is a Feb 29th leap year child so has only had 8 birthdays.
I would like to thank everyone I got to play with and those I played disc golf with too. Until next time...
“YOU STAY CLASSY BDGA TOURERS!”