2017 REVIEW
Following the very bleakest of bitter winter hiatuses, 2017 heralded the first full schedule WCGT season, after the highly successful pilot season in 2016 in which tour stalwart Chris Chesterman produced some thrilling late form to snatch the Order of Merit title away from tournament multi-winner Harry Gray in the Tour Championship at Celtic Manor’s signature Twenty-Ten course. Andy Macallister had stunned seasoned observers at East Sussex National in May by storming to his first major title on debut despite strong challenges from Chesterman and Ed Bell, who had produced the round of his career only to heart-wrenchingly lose by 4 strokes. Macallister sadly came up just short in the 2016 Order of Merit after pulling out of the Tour Championship through spousal pressure, an ever-present threat to the future of our tour. Soon after he departed for a year-long sabbatical to the sunnier but morally bankrupt climes of Australia, where his game would desert him after he was forced to borrow a set of his boss’ Callaway irons to fill the void left by his trusty Pings, thoughtlessly left behind in an English garage.
New blood was heartily welcomed to the tour in the shape of the Gange brothers, Rich and Tom, who immediately stamped their mark on proceedings with the creation of an elegant tour logo and the sponsoring of a new event, The (Woodlands) Masters, played on the same Sunday in April as its inferior professional namesake. Tom would later go on to lovingly carve wonderful new trophies for the Order of Merit title (The Brunel Sceptre) and the Cavalier Pairs, replacing the trophy lost so recklessly by the Lycra-wearing formerfriend of the WCGT, Shaft Jones. These would provide great incentive for the keenly contested and much cherished end of season showdowns. Shaft sadly would no longer play any part in WCGT golf, disappearing into the wilderness (probably on a road bike) like our own version of Anthony Kim, taking with him the finest talent for long iron ball striking that West Country handicap adjusted golf has ever known.
So to the start and another new event, the inaugural Atlantic Super Links, played in February on the Channel course at Burnham and Berrow GC. In unseasonably lovely conditions, Ed Green steadily built a lead going into the final few holes, other challengers falling by the wayside as they toiled on the Himalayan sloped greens. Andy Macallister, building on his fine 2016 form, was in touching distance on the 18th hole but a controversial GameBook scoring error, the reasons for which were never fully understood, led him to believe he needed a par to tie. He took driver off the tee, the rest is history, as Green claimed his first title and the sand dunes claimed another sorry victim.
March brought with it the playing of The Goat Rutt, aptly named for the quality of golf course traditionally selected for the honour of hosting. Thornbury GC did not disappoint, with its grassless tees and beachy greens providing exactly the cheap and shabby vibe the event organiser was praying for. A low scoring nett-birdie-fest ensued with 2015 Jacket champ Pete Steed and perennial Jacket bridesmaid Harry Gray separating themselves from the pack in a colossal head to head battle at the top of the leaderboard. Steed was gamely holding his nerve under intense GameBook spectator scrutiny, but sadly an ill-timed error at the dangerous double-laked 17th hole allowed the consistently annoyingly consistent Gray to sneak the title by a single stroke. Special mention was made of Jacket Commissioner Matt Johnson who was able to perfectly epitomise his mercurial game in scorecard form with a frankly incredible level par 36 points despite 5 blobs.
We moved seamlessly on to April and the inaugural Woodlands Masters at Woodlands GC. Cold and windy conditions meant low scoring on this generous track was not as forthcoming as expected. A cagey battle for supremacy ensued with the lead changing hands several times on the back nine, before Cornish maestro and scone enthusiast Tim Brewster claimed a stellar victory amid the backdrop of Devonian tears as sworn enemy Harry Gray looked on helplessly. The challenge of a duel would be laid down for later in the season in the WCGT matchplay quarter finals, the two bitter rivals fighting for scone-related validation in what would prove to be one of the best moments of the season.
Oh May, glorious May, and the golfing brethren of the West Country prepared themselves for the first 54 hole playing of The Jacket in its illustrious 7 year history. A spectacular setting at Saunton GC with towering dunes, skin-flaying gorse and bastard greens, provided the sternest possible test. Most pundits were anointing Harry Gray early on, the feeling among experts being that the format change to 54 holes would favour his consistent play over the potential for a mercurial one-off performance from one of his rivals. Early signs did not suggest a Gray procession however, as the unconventional method of putting from everywhere within 20 yards of the greens allowed Ed Green to avoid the Dante’s Inferno of short game shambles that befell much of the rest of the field. Green reached the top of the leaderboard early on in proceedings and retained his position at the front for much of the weekend.
Jacket Commissioner Johnson fell foul of the savagery of the links test in the most heartbreaking fashion with six consecutive blobs straight out of the starter’s gate. Credit to the man that he is, a smile never left his face the whole weekend and he finished the tournament with a confidence restoring 30 points. Sadly it wasn’t enough to prevent him from claiming The Hound. Gray kept himself in sight of the leader throughout but stayed relatively under the radar as excellent “moving morning”rounds from expected challengers and former champions, Chris Chesterman and Ufaq Qazi, propelled them into the last group for the final round, along with leader Green and surprise package Chris Hough.
The final round was one of history’s great occasions, the ups and downs, trials and tribulations, tears and joy, blood and sweat, fear and loathing, good and evil, all coming together in a veritable Smorgasbord of titanic sporting emotion and endeavour. Tim Brewster was once again harnessing the mysterious powers of Cornish black magic to attempt to spoil Gray’s Devonian party by firing a frankly unbelievable 26 point front nine to scare the living Bejesus out of the entire leading group and call into question the validity of the tour’s handicap system. He would fall away on the back nine but finished a creditable 3rd. Qazi and Chesterman played with all the heart one would expect but neither could find the Midas touch on the greens and finished 4th and tied 5threspectively, Qazi riding horrible iron form but grinding bravely before a loose tee shot at 17 led to a triple bogeyand a sand wedge thrust into the dunes. Northern Irish tyro Brook McLaughlin played some stellar golf at times but interspersed this with some bottom drawer shanking, knee sinking moments of emotion and careless short putting to fritter away shots needlessly and he finished tied 5th, going home thinking what could have been withthe adoption of some basic course management.
That left Green and Gray to battle it out for the title. Casting off the many doubters who predicted his challenge would falter long before it did, Green kept his lead deep into the back nine but then, a sorrier sight we may never see again, he completely lost all muscle function as overwhelming fatigue took hold and he began to swing with the power of a motor neurone disease sufferer. Horrid scores littered the scorecard while Gray 2-pointed his way to the top, as only he knows how. Coming up 18 the game was up but with the support of his playing partners, the adrenaline rush of playing in front of the adoring galleries and the knowledge that he could still break the heart of Brewster, Green courageously holed an 8 footer to claim outright 2nd place and the Bridesmaid Salver. So finally the tour applauded a Gray Jacket victory, long awaited and extremely well received by his peers.
The afternoon following the conclusion to The Jacket, 15 hungover and weary golfers set out at Enmore Park GC to contest the Champions Drive-In. With the deep burn of lactate infested muscles hindering their every move, few players breached the necessary give-a-shit threshold in order to compete at a level worthy of winning the title. This left a gaping path for Nick Bell, perennial bandit and possibly the most underrated player on tour, particularly by himself, to cast off the shackles of being “the other Bell” and etch his own name into the WCGT history books with a comfortable victory around a quaint woodland track.
The only strokeplay event on the calendar, the prestigious Clifton Gin Club Invitational at Bristol & Clifton GC, took place in midsummer June. This was an exclusive event open only to the highest echelons of society, that being WCGT golfers who were available on the day. A brutally tough course set-up in stifling heatwith baked greens and “Sunday pins” led to some high scoring and an arduous slog to see who could bleed in to the clubhouse the least. Rich Kapur, knowing little about the vagaries of golf and caring even less about the course set-up, played his usual trundling game blissfully unaffected by the scoring carnage around him and was the best and last man standing. He proved a worthy victor to claim the Ophir Gin trophy and he was rightfully lauded at the annual CGCI summer BBQ that evening in front of his proud girlfriend and the WCGT members. Shortly after this, Harry Gray was emasculated in front of his wife when forced to consume a scone the Cornish way after losing his matchplay duel with Tim Brewster. Adding to the humiliation there was no jam in the house so marmalade was inserted as a woefully suboptimal substitute. It was ill-fitting for such a wonderful champion to be dragged through the mud in such fashion but the South West Scone Debate is one of the world’s most bad tempered conflicts, second only to the battle for the Korean peninsula.
The Players took place on a wet July weekend at The Players GC. The weather made it unmemorable in almost every way but nobody will forget Will Rowe hitting fairways and greens with the relentless monotony of a piston engine and lapping the field to an 8 shot victory, a full scale demolition job the likes of which has not been seen before or since on the WCGT. Rowe would finish the season very strongly in the race for the Order of Merit and play a big role in the final showdown, proving himself a steely competitor
August did not feature an event as spousal pressure reached critical mass like a volcano immediately prior to devastating eruption. Sensibly the WCGT retreated for a period of rest, reflection and school holidays. Immediately following the break Harry Gray won his third consecutive title in the non-sanctioned exhibition event, The Slam. Bookending that magnificent week of golf in late September was the inaugural Autumn Classic at Cumberwell Park GC. Fabulous autumnal sunshine bathed the golfers on the Blue and Orange nines. A tricky front 9 holes left the leaderboard congested, with McLaughlin finding some steady form at last and hoping for a first tour title. His new brand of par golf was however insufficient on this day, as the back 9 developed quickly into a birdie bonanza of a slugfest between Rowe, Gray and Qazi. Rowe made early headway before Qazi began to turn the screw. Gray, having been out of contention after a mediocre front 9 then blistered into action with a frankly ludicrous run of holed mid-rangeputts and birdies galore. GameBook was awash with redsand yellows and the crowd were absolutely frothing at their golf mouths. One stroke behind on the 17th hole andgaining rapidly on the stuttering Qazi, it looked for all the world that Gray would rein in his prey like a cheetah savaging a lame impala on the unforgiving plains of the Serengeti. However a disappointing 3 putt afforded Qazi the luxury of a shot advantage at 18, which he duly converted into a fine win.
The WCGT matchplay was played throughout the season and quickly earned a reputation as one of the few titles that WCGT golfers would earmark as a key career ambition. There was an early exit for McLaughlin,falling on his own sword with some wild driving,allowing Rowe to cruise through to a guaranteed semi-final where he destroyed a beleaguered Green, whose phenomenal physical efforts at the Jacket rather emptied his tank for the remainder of the season. In another early surprise matchplay specialist Doug Albon, whose disappointing season had begun with much hope after he closed out 2016 with the shot of the year on the 18th hole at Celtic Manor, was turned over without fuss by Rich Gange, who later fell to Green in the quarter-final. In the other half of the draw the matches were tighter affairs through and through. After dispatching George Vaughan, Chesterman played some lovely golf but came up against a manically possessed Qazi at the wheel of a puttingbulldozer in their quarter-final. Steed and Brewster produced a magnificent 1st round match that went down to the final hole where Brewster produced the shot of his career, a high-drawing 4 iron over trees into the heart of the par 5 green. Despite 3 putting for par like a sad dogBrewster claimed victory. In the next round he produced the shock of the season in defeating matchplay favourite Gray, whose crossbow-like game was for once misfiringtowards his own golf heart and causing copious self-bleeding. Brewster and Qazi played out a tense semi-final which again went down to the wire, a stirring back 9 comeback from the Cornishman ended by a solid final hole par from Qazi.
The final was played the weekend before the Tour Championship at Bristol GC. Acutely aware of Rowe’s late charge up the Order of Merit and his own chances of catching runaway leader Gray being contingent on victory in the matchplay tournament, Qazi was in bullish mood on the first tee. After losing the toss and watching Rowe demoralise him by splitting the fairway with his opening tee shot, he vowed to make birdie and gain an early upper hand in the mental battle. A beautiful wedge to 5 feet set that up nicely and from there he steamrollered through the front 9, rendering Rowe a bloody and disembowelled mess in his wake. At 7up through 8 holes Qazi was in Dreamland and Rowe’s face had the haunted look of a condemned man in a guillotine about to drop. To his immense credit Rowe produced some very tidy golf on the back 9 to finish with a very respectable 36 points on his individual card. Sadly for him however, long before his final putt dropped, he had been eviscerated by a score of 7&6. It was breathless yet merciless golf from Qazi, the game of golf showing its most brutal bastard side to the beleaguered Rowe. Fortunately for him there was little time to seek solace in alcohol or illicit drugs as the season-ender was scheduled a mere 6 days later.
With Qazi and Rowe picking up handsome prize rewards from the matchplay final to close on Gray in the season standings, this left the Order of Merit a genuine threehorse race going into the finale of the season at The Tour Championship. Once again this was hosted at Celtic Manor but this time on the tricky and devilish Montgomerie course, a real self-aggrandising bastard of a fat mound-filled track that epitomised its designer perfectly. In the shittest weather of the year the incredible Order of Merit race was still wide open going into the last 4 holes, the three main protagonists occupying the top 3 spots on the leaderboard with WCGT debutant Martin Jeffers playing strongly and leading the chasing pack.
Rowe needed victory and for Gray to collapse to tied 5thor worse, which seemed far fetched while Gray was solidly notching his trademark 2-pointers at the head of matters. Under immense pressure Qazi, needing outright victory to claim the Order of Merit, produced a miraculous up and down at 17 out of a deep bunker, having thought he had chubbed his way out of contention. A bloodcurdling roar of hope escaped his body and he hotfooted it to the 18th tee just a single pointbehind Gray and Rowe with everything on the line. Rowe was no longer able to win the Order of Merit by this stage but a victory for him would end Qazi’s dreams of lifting the Brunel Sceptre.
The 18th turned into a rollercoaster ride of golfing bottling at its finest. In a shocking twist of Sixth Sense proportions Gray contrived to make triple and blob the hole while Qazi sealed a solid par and what he thought was victory in the event and the season in one fell swoop. He thought so prematurely as Rowe sank the 6-foot slider of his life to tie and send the Tour Championship into a playoff, a WCGT event first. With the rain teeming down now, the galleries fled into the clubhouse bar instead of following the playoff action. In front of an unimpressive crowd of zero people, Qazi’s hooked drive proved costly as Rowe made an unflustered 2-point bogey to claim his second title of the season, and in the process seal the Order of Merit for the deserving Gray who had played the most consistent golf of his career throughout 2017.
That night the men of the WCGT drank merrily like merry men and toasted the successes and failures of the season, the finest full schedule WCGT season to date, and the only one. A raucous prizegiving and season awards ceremony was a fitting finale. Qazi was labelled quite smug and Gray rather cruelly as having the look of a paedophile, while McLaughlin was told to shut up and Rowe was gracious when being reminded of his mauling at the hands of Qazi in the matchplay final. The following day Brewster and Qazi drew the curtains on an epic golfing year with victory in the Cavalier Pairs over a tired Gray and a rejuvenated Matt Johnson.
And so did the men of the WCGT blaze a trail for future generations of West Country handicap golfers for decades to come. 2018 could not arrive soon enough.