Date: 20th May 2017 Venue: Aylesbury Vale Golf Club Sponsor: Austec Commentary: The third event in this year s Crown and Anchor Order of Merit was the longest journey our golfers would make this summer. Situated in Wing near Leighton Buzzard, the Aylesbury Vale Golf Club measuring at around 6,200 yards was a pleasant experience yet again. The days sponsor were once again Austec Ltd courtesy of the now fit again Dave Austin (Great to see you back!). Although the threat of heavy rain became a reality, it didn t seem to dampen the spirits of the twenty nine players who turned up and played the four and a half hour round. The course, unusually started with a long par 5 so the players could open up their shoulders straight from the off in search of that early birdie of which Jordan Tucker was the only taker. The players then got to bask in the springtime sunshine and batten down the hatches with their wet gear in a heavily prolonged downpour before tackling the first mini task of the day. The longest drive on the par 5 ninth was for the big hitters and it was the director of the day s sponsor, Dave Austin who hit the biggest and meanest drive to pocket the well earned tenner. Two holes later, arrived the nearest the pin in two challenge at the picturesque 360 yard par 4. With water running across the split fairway just 68 yards in front of the green waiting to gobble up any mishit approaches. Newcomer Mark Edwards playing off an impressive 9 handicap used his skill to flip his second shot to within several feet of the flag to scoop the prize. Another downpour followed before the lads were treated to final mini task of the day at the short par 3 seventeenth. Whilst nearly thirty eight percent of the field walked off with a par, it was Mr O Grady, known as nemesis Eddie to one particular golfer, scooped the honours with a firmly struck mid iron to eight feet of the pin. The first few groups of golfers managed to scamper off the course before the final deluge engulfed which ensured that many players would end the round pretty wet. The days presentations again were presided over by Eddie O Grady along with the representative for Austec Ltd. Once the confusion of one players score was sorted out the podium places were finalised. In third place on countback was defending Order of Merit champion, Drew Behan whose nine pars amassed him an impressive thirty eight points and another point deduction in his handicap. Just edging him out and into second place, also totting up thirty eight points, with eleven pars to accompany his nett 70 score was Mr Consistent Chap. The winner however, following up last month s victory with another outstanding score of forty points was the ever improving Vice Captain Dave Cavanagh.
Congratulations big man!! Last month s two point deduction in his handicap was a metaphorical flesh wound so he will be receiving yet another two point cut just in time for those intrepid links courses in Deal in a couple of weeks time. With the first three competitions now completed the early runners for this year s Order of Merit are: 3 rd Drew Behan-------- -- ----110 points 2 nd Andy Kravitx ---------------112 points 1 st Dave Cavanagh------- -----116 points. Facts and Figures from the Day There were 124 pars on the day with the average score being just over 95 strokes. The hardest hole was the par 4 thirteenth playing 6.34 shots and the easiest hole the par 5 twelfth playing 5.48 hits. Best Score on the Front Nine 22 points Dave Cavanagh and Adam Wellesley Best Score on the Back Nine 20 points Chap, Dave Austin and Drew Behan Best Score on the Par 5 s 12 points Jake Austin and John Cassidy Best Score on the Par 4 s 25 points Dave Cavanagh Best Score on the Par 3 s 11 points Brian Bosworth, Jez Braithwaite and Tom Salmon
Final Standings Nett Diff Hcap Chg New Hcap Overall Position Score (Stroke Rcd) Placing CountBack -4-1.6 22.2 1 Dave Cavanagh 40 pts (24) Overall Winner 18 10 5 1-2 -0.4 8.1 2 John Chambers 38 pts (09) Overall Runner-Up 20 13 7 3-2 -0.6 13.3 3 Drew Behan 38 pts (14) Overall 3rd 20 12 8 3-2 -0.6 17.5 4 Adam Wellesley 38 pts (18) 16 8 4 0-1 -0.3 13.9 5 Colin Hunter 37 pts (14) 18 10 6 3 0 0 8.8 6 Mark Edwards 36 pts (09) 19 11 6 3 0 0 9.7 7 Martin Behan 36 pts (10) 19 11 6 2 0 0 28 8 Jez Braithwaite 36 pts (28) 17 9 7 2 1 0 15.2 9 Brian Bosworth 35 pts (15) 17 8 4 0 2 0 10 10 Dave Austin 34 pts (10) 20 12 5 2 2 0 17.7 11 Tom Salmon 34 pts (18) 19 13 6 2 2 0 24.6 12 Rob Cumisky 34 pts (25) 18 11 5 1 3 0 16.2 13 Jake Austin 33 pts (16) 17 11 5 3 3 0 19.4 14 Rich Radcliffe 33 pts (19) 15 9 7 1 3 0 26.6 15 Mark Mclachlan 33 pts (27) 14 8 4 2 4 0 25.2 16 Sean Falsey 32 pts (25) 16 9 3 0 4 +0.2 20 17 Andy Kravitz 32 pts (20) 14 9 7 1 4 0 20.8 18 John Cassidy 32 pts (21) 14 8 5 2 5 +0.2 13.4 19 Ian Burgess 31 pts (13) 15 9 5 2 7 0 28 20 Andy Vinizzi 29 pts (28) 17 10 4 1 7 +0.2 21.1 21 Paul Mcallister 29 pts (21) 12 8 3 1 8 +0.2 22.5 22 Danny Brown 28 pts (22) 18 12 4 3 8 +0.2 23.6 23 Phillip Cassidy 28 pts (23) 14 10 2 0 8 +0.2 19.2 24 Steve Warburton 28 pts (19) 12 10 4 1 8 +0.2 17.2 25 John Behan 28 pts (17) 12 6 3 2 9 +0.2 13.5 26 Eddie O'grady 27 pts (13) 14 9 5 2 10 +0.2 8.1 27 Neil Auburn 26 pts (08) 13 7 3 0 13 +0.2 25 28 Steve O'Brien 23 pts (25) 15 7 6 3 20 +0.2 10.7 29 Jordan Tucker 16 pts (11) 6 4 3 3
Hole byhole scores Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Par Par 5 3 4 4 4 4 4 3 5 4 4 5 4 4 3 4 3 5 72 Stroke Index 11 13 4 15 6 2 16 9 17 5 8 12 1 3 10 14 18 7 Yards 501 170 423 323 387 406 343 175 488 448 366 506 420 447 168 303 167 535 6576 Neil Auburn 6 3 5 5 6 6 5 3 5 5 6 4 6 5 4 5 3 8 90 Dave Austin 6 4 4 6 5 5 6 4 4 4 5 4 5 4 4 4 4 6 84 Jake Austin 4 5 8 5 5 5 5 8 4 5 5 6 5 5 4 5 8 5 97 Drew Behan 6 3 5 7 5 5 4 3 5 4 4 6 6 5 5 4 3 5 85 John Behan 6 6 5 5 4 5 5 4 7 5 5 6 8 6 4 8 4 6 99 Martin Behan 6 3 4 5 4 6 5 3 5 4 4 5 5 5 5 4 3 6 82 Brian Bosworth 7 3 5 5 4 5 6 2 6 4 4 5 7 5 4 5 3 8 88 Jez Braithwaite 6 3 6 7 5 7 4 3 7 4 6 6 8 7 6 5 3 7 100 Danny Brown 6 5 8 4 8 8 5 5 7 6 6 4 5 5 4 8 5 5 104 Ian Burgess 6 3 5 5 5 6 5 3 6 5 5 6 5 6 5 4 4 6 90 John Cassidy 5 4 6 7 6 6 4 4 4 6 5 5 8 5 8 6 4 6 99 Phillip Cassidy 7 5 6 6 5 7 6 3 6 6 6 7 4 6 4 8 4 8 104 Dave Cavanagh 7 3 5 5 4 5 6 4 5 4 5 6 7 5 5 5 4 7 92 John Chambers 6 3 5 4 4 4 5 4 5 4 4 6 5 4 4 4 3 5 79 Rob Cumisky 6 8 5 6 6 8 5 3 5 6 5 5 6 6 4 4 5 8 101 Mark Edwards 6 3 5 4 5 4 5 3 6 4 4 5 6 4 4 4 4 5 81 Sean Falsey 7 4 6 5 6 6 5 4 7 4 6 6 6 6 4 6 4 9 101 Colin Hunter 6 4 5 4 4 5 4 4 5 5 5 4 8 5 4 5 4 5 86 Andy Kravitz 7 4 5 6 4 5 4 4 7 5 6 6 8 6 5 4 3 7 96 Paul Mcallister 6 3 5 6 6 6 4 5 6 4 7 7 5 7 5 5 6 7 100 Mark Mclachlan 6 5 6 4 5 6 6 4 6 6 6 6 8 6 4 8 4 7 103 Steve O'Brien 6 6 7 7 7 6 6 5 8 5 6 4 8 7 6 5 5 6 110 Eddie O'grady 6 6 6 5 4 6 4 3 7 6 5 6 5 5 6 5 3 6 94 Rich Radcliffe 5 4 5 6 7 6 4 3 5 6 5 5 8 8 4 4 3 7 95 Tom Salmon 5 3 5 8 5 8 6 4 6 6 5 5 5 5 3 6 3 6 94 Jordan Tucker 6 5 5 8 6 6 4 4 8 8 8 5 8 8 5 8 8 5 115 Andy Vinizzi 5 4 7 9 7 6 7 5 7 5 6 6 6 5 6 5 5 8 109 Steve Warburton 5 5 5 5 6 6 5 3 7 5 7 8 5 6 4 7 3 7 99 Adam Wellesley 5 3 6 5 4 6 4 3 5 4 5 5 8 5 4 5 4 8 89