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Today marked a special occasion at Gramacho, as the LC's and the Rosa's faced each other for the very first time in a friendly team match.
The inaugural encounter ended in a convincing 5–1 victory for the LC's, who claimed the bragging rights in this first-ever meeting. As tradition would have it, the losing pairs treated the winning pairs to well-earned drinks after the match. It was a great social finish to the day, with several members of the Rosa's team staying on to enjoy the atmosphere and good company. With such a successful first edition, it's no surprise that a rematch was already being discussed. Nothing has been confirmed yet, but after today's enjoyable competition, we're sure this won't be the last chapter in what could become a great club tradition. Congratulations to the LC's on their victory, and thanks to everyone who made the day such a fun and friendly event! We played Pinta, as Gramacho was closed for maintenance. The course was in summer mode, greens a little slower than of late as the grass is longer for protection against the ever present sun, however it was lush and green and in very playable condition. With a small field of 30 we decided to run in 3’s and play “ All the 3’s” It was 3 to count on Par 3’s 2 on 4’s and 1 on 5’s. Hole 3 was triple points and teams were to delete their worst 3 scores. To keep the 3 theme going, there were 3 nearest the pins, the first of which was nearest the pin on hole 3 in 3. The others were hole 5 and 17. There was a bonus prize for the player who scored the most 3’s, be it a birdie, a par or an Eagle; of course there were also 3 team prizes. Nearest the pin winners Nearestnin 3 on hole 3 was won by Vice captain Gavin Mortimer ( who claimed to have missed his 6ft birdie put to give others a chance, yeah right) On hole 5, with an excellent very close shot was Silvia Hammer. On hole 17, Steve Moore was the only player to hit the green! Team prizes - Interestingly the format produced a very wide spread of scores, 67 the lowest and 93 the highest. In 3rd place, winning the “less clothes” Rose were the ladies rule team of Tracy Brett, Juliet Smith and Michaela Falkenberg with 89 points. In 2nd place, winning a 6 pack of San Miguel beer in a cool bag were Guy and Marie-Paul Norgrove and Hugh Duncan with 90 points. In 1st with an excellent 93 points and the clear winners, David and Gina Beadle with the man in form, Bruce Cooke. There were 3 players with 5 “3” on their card, ( Vice Gavin Mortimer, Bruce Cooke, but the winner was Kevin Crowe, because he got the most birdies. The format was enjoyed by most and best of even the slowest of the teams completed their rounds in under 4 hours. Gavin Mortimer Gents Vice Captain Great SFD in very hot conditions - playing a Scramble with some excellent scores NEAREST the PIN WINNERS 7th - Clive Dromard 15th - Simon Martin SCRAMBLE RESULT 1st - Mark Williamson, Olivier Mouries. MP Norgrove and Linda Cooke 2nd - Hugh Duncan, Ralf and Elke Ensmenger, Michaela Falkenberg 3rd - Gavin Mortimer, Ber Brett, John and Allison Hudson 4th - Simon Martin, Klaus Falkenberg and Steve May 5th - Bruce cooke, Jos de Raaij, Olwyn Simpson and Kerstin Alexus David Lightburn On Sunday 21st, we enjoyed classic Algarve June weather, 30 degrees with a gentle breeze to ease the heat a little, it really was beautiful, perfect weather, as appropriate for mid-summers day. As Lady Captain Sue and I had just returned from Cambridge, which was awash with Summer Balls, we decided to have our own Summer ball, or to be more precise, we played Mid-summer (Yellow) Ball. Players used the yellow ball provided in strict rotation, which doubled their Stapleford score. The team score was two scores per hole. If the team returned the Yellow ball, they received a 2 point bonus! There was much strategy to be thought through, who would best be suited to which rotation of holes, and of course, who was least likely to loose the ball ! With a couple of exceptions, most teams made it round a resplendent Pinta course in just over 4 hours. Results were as follows- Nearest the Pin Hole 5 Chris Dearden Hole 15 Alan Pope 114 was a popular score with 3 teams coming in on this number, but it was the “Girl Power” team of LC Sue Mortimer, Tracy Brett, Jane Conyers and Sarah Mattews who edged out the other 2 teams with the best back 9 of the day - 59 points - for 4th and a welcome bottle of Rose. Included in their 114 was the 2 point bonus for returning my yellow ball There were 2 teams on 116 too, losing out with 51 on the back 9 and 3rd place were, Debbie Williamson, Richard Conyers and guests Olivier and Pamela Mouries. Had they returned the Yellow ball they would have been 2nd, Just saying …. 3rd won a cool bag, complete with a freezer block and a chocolate bar, not bad! In 2nd with a better back 9 of 52 and returning the Yellow ball to boot, were Ian Wylie, Barry Rib, President Bob Beatson, and Rene VDZ. Good Job guys! They received a bottle of QDCarmo Vino Branco, a firm favourite with the writer! However, all 52 players were frankly gob-smacked with the winning score of 123 points from Alan Pope, Shaun Cunningham, Guest Brian Marsh and our Treasurer, Jos De Raaij. Their card was good enough to win without returning the yellow ball, which they did to rub salt in the wound! Congratulations guys amazing score! There was an extra prize for the cleanest, most legible card. I can report that often SFD cards are very poorly filled in which makes the job of the organisers more difficult that it needs to be – for example, one card didn’t even have the players names on it, let alone their handicaps or shots received! Anyway, this week more or less every team followed instructions and presented good clean cards, there was one however that was just perfect, and written in pen for added clarity - congratulations Gina Beadle, suoer job, Gina took away a metal cool drinks bottle, very useful at this time of year! Best regds Gavin Mortimer CGCC Gents Vice Captain News on the winners of the Mixed Knockout. Denise and Steve played the final against Ulf and Äsa on Wednesday. It was a close match it was won on the 18th. Congratulations Denise and Steve 🏆 A big Thankyou to all who played in it this year. I will send out details when the presentation will take place, and details for join up for the next round which will start in September. Thank you all again for supporting this Tracy Brett June 14's SFD saw 36 golfers tee off in perfect golf weather. Thankfully, the wind had finally subsided, making conditions more enjoyable. The format allowed the four balls to pick their best drives and finish their own shots from there until they selected their two best scores. The scoring was strong with Barry Ribchester, Sandi Beatson, Elaine Askew and Alan Pope showing the rest of the field how it was done coming in with 109 points. Our other four winning teams followed closely with 102 - 105 points. Pamela Mouries and birthday girl, Sarah Mathews took the ladies NTP and Bob Bessell took the gents. Our six guests thoroughly enjoyed themselves and most signed up to play the upcoming week. Ladies Vice Captain Karen Stanton |
