Report – CITCO round 6 – Kikuoka – 24 June 2015
Perfect conditions greeted the FROGs who ventured to Canach for round 6 of the CITCO Grand Prix.
The Irish FROGs were delighted to see Colin Cameron at the starters table with his thermos flask in hand. Nothing better to start a round of golf than a nice cup of tea! Their glee was dashed when he pulled warm Luxembourg grillworsts from the flask instead. Any shock was short lived, ‘cause the grillworsts were delicious & more fitting for the Duke’s birthday celebration week. In true Luxembourgish style, they were complimented by some chilled ‘Boff’s. Cheers Colin.
Perfect conditions were not reflected with perfect golf. The standard scratch slid from last week’s lofty 17pts, down to a more familiar 15pts.
Jonny Hill was tasked with carrying out the long drive & NTP markers. Not surprisingly, his name was first down on the list! Pick that hole before or after your drive Jon? Matter it did not, as a volley of drives soared past it. Johan Terblanche hit the best of the lot, long & straight(ish), but was refused any reward for his efforts.
Dennis Robertson arrived to the clubhouse like a giddy teenage girl. He was in the last flight so knew that his shot on the 7th was enough to win the NTP award.
Excluding his shaky start in Junglinster, our best guest award has gone to Nick Felfoldi every time he has played & so it was again tonight with an impressive 16 points. In order to give the other guests a chance, Nick has been promoted to a full member … but this does mean he is eligible for his preferred Long Drive award……hhmmmm we didn’t think this one through! I suppose Steve ?????????? has won too many LD’s already this year, so a bit of competition will do him no harm.
The fall in standard scratch indicated the field did not fare as well as last week, but the same could not be said for the leaders on the night.
Our giddy schoolgirl leapt up to claim his prize for 5th place & 17 points. Dennis Robertson had to be seated once he realised there are no prizes for 5th.
Johan Terblanche ‘kindly’ donated his long-drive prize for the 4th place winner & Ian Doherty was happy to accept. His 18 points was good, but par over the back 4 was not enough. Simon Baker bettered his finish & his 18pts took third place.
Johan Terblanche had a long wait knowing his total was enough to win last week’s event. 20 points was only good enough for second place though, but will have done his position in the overall standings no harm at all.
With no wood in his bag (and soon to be with no shots on his handicap) Neil “I didn’t lose a Ball” Underwood hit a massive 22 points to take the glory on the night. Fantastic performance Neil & congrats on the win.
As regulars in contention for the pink ball, John Sutherland & Gerry Mullen sat calmly knowing their respective 8 & 7 points were not nearly enough to win the coveted title – of so they tried to tried to make it appear. It seems there really is no substitute for experience as they were a long way from the winning score. Only one hand was needed to count up Steve Kaiser’s score, and that even left a finger free for him to scratch his head while wondering how it all went so wrong. His 4 points was enough to claim to the Pink ball, for the second time, for the second time with 4 points.
With 6 events complete, the number of FROGS with a full complement of 5 scores in the overall CITCO Grand Prix is increasing & making the leaderboard more interesting. Andrew Paton started the day with an 18 points buffer at the top & then bettered his worst score by 2 points. Despite this, his lead has been slashed … or at least dented. Dennis Robertson jumps up to second place with 75 points & 7 off the lead. Will Dennis be worried that Andrew is already only 1 points shy of his winning score last year & he has 4 more chances to better his total? Despite adding a fifth score to his overall total Duncan Tippin retains his position in third place on 69pts, but bettering that 8 points you got last night should be easy Duncan!
Thanks to our main sponsor CITCO for their support.
The next CITCO event is at Preisch on July 1st. Mark Houston will be in touch to facilitate the organisation into orderly flights.
SHRM Matchplay
The SHRM Matchplay is shaping up well with the cream coming to the top.
William Heath bowed out, giving Daniel Kaiser a walkover
Jess Have tried to let Andrew Paton take the match, but Andrew stubbornly refused the many chances & left Jess to win 1up
Dennis Robertson bt Craig Ferreira 2&1
Jonny Hill bt Merve Herneman with another 2&1
This leaves Francis Parisis & Simon Baker to finish their match & complete the lineup for the Quarters
The quarters are shaping up like this & are due to be completed by July 7th:
Jess Have to play Stephane Ayache
Jonny Hill to face Daniel Kaiser
Alan Botfield & Arnaud Bouteiller go to battle & Dennis Robertson to play the winner of Francis Parisis & Simon Baker
Thanks to SHRM for their continued support of the Matchplay event.
Ryder Cup
On other matters, I hope you have all been impressing our Ryder Cup captain Alan Botfield of late with your almost & nearly, dreary, stories. The Ryder Cup is around the corner on July 25th, so last chance for any underhanded influencing of the team selection! More to come over the next few weeks.
