KANGAROO CUP Pairs Championship
Berkshire 2018
BERKSHIRE - 17th SEPTEMBER 2018
Defending Berkshire Champions Healy & Kelly suspect organiser Lumley was up to something to stop a successful defence, when they saw The Ryder Cup Captain Thomas Bjorn, with assistant Captains Paul McGinley & Padraig Harrington picking up tips on team pairings from the Kangaroo Cup while enjoying a Full English Breakfast. The event they were hosting was on the other course so there was a great atmosphere in the clubhouse for the start of the Kangaroo Cup.
Starting on the 1st Blue Par 3, Steve Phillips hit the shot of his day to establish the target for the closest to the pin – sadly it was improved on 3 times by the following groups. The buggy brigade then raced off to a flying start with Peplow & Tilley scoring 11 points with Onions & Phillips 1 point behind after the 4 holes of Better Ball. Healy & partner Kelly who changed with tradition and arrived in advance of his tee time was wondering if it was worth all the effort having used up his 4 handicap in as many holes. Healy again came to the rescue draining a 40' birdie putt for 4 points on the 3rd but they were not off to the start they wanted. Patel & Lancaster were the only other team to score 4 points on the 3rd. Pimbley still in honeymoon mode playing with virgin KC Martin racked up 7 points on the 6th with a further 6 points on the 7th to finish the front nine with 33 points. Taylor with upgrade partner Grech (Benson off playing mixed golf) also banked 7 points on the 6th with Couzens & Lumley the only other 7 pointer of the day on the 8th courtesy of a Couzens chip in nett Eagle to turn with 31 point also matched by Patel & Lancaster.
Pimbley & Martin continued their good golf with the 13th being the only 1 pointer on their card. Pimbley shot a 2 over par on the back with a team 29 points further increasing their lead on the field. Peplow & Tilley scored 26 points with 3 other teams scoring 25 points. Pimbley & Martin parked up the buggy and enjoyed a leisurely lunch watching their score become increasingly stronger giving them a 6 point lead at the halfway stage.
Playing the Red course in the afternoon Taylor & Grech started to combine well with 30 points for the front nine holes with Pimbley & Martin suddenly finding 1 point appearing far too often on the card (4 times in the afternoon round) but still scored 29 points at the turn matched by Simpson & Davenport by a run of 5 pointer holes. Healy & Kelly (who is more accustomed to PM golf) started to use their home course knowledge for 28 points. Patel and Naylor both had nett Eagles for 4 points on the 11th, with Kelly and Hammond doing the same on the 14h, with Couzens displaying why he is off 2 handicap birdieing five of the six Par 5’s in the afternoon. A few of the players must have misunderstood about the 7’s mentioned over lunch and added that number of strokes rather than points to their afternoon cards. Pimbley & Martin shared afternoon best scores of 55 points with Healy & Kelly with teams Patel & Lancaster and Hammond & Jopling both scoring 52 points.
Pimbley & Martin took the title with 117 points with Couzens & Lumley runners up on 106. Nearest to the pin on the Blue 1st was won by Davenport and Red 18th the last hole of the day Couzens having had one hand on the bottle of Yellowtail Red with only one group to play, watched his Old Shirburnian colleague Kelly hit a 6 iron within his ball to snatch the prize!
