GRAY GALVANISED TO OXFORDSHIRE GLORY

Venue - Frilford Heath / The Oxfordshire

Winner - Harry Gray

Runner-up - Tom Wigglesworth

Hound - Richard Kapur

 

It was the second weekend in May and the players of the West Country Golf Tour were heading to Oxfordshire to compete in The 14th Jacket.  Frilford Heath had made the best availability case for the opening two rounds, with The Oxfordshire proudly playing host to the final round and post competition revelry. 

 

A classy wall mounted A4 sign greeted the group as they arrived at Frilford Heath, making it very clear how seriously the club was taking its hosting role. Once the bacon based welcome ceremony and warm up was completed, it was off to the first tee of the Red course to get the action started. 

 

The first hole was set up perfectly. Players made full use of the trees, rough, fairway and neighbouring hole fairways on their way to the green, with most just pleased to finally get out on the course after a year of Jacket withdrawal symptoms. The sun was beating down hard, exposing players with poor sun cream and hydration strategies. At the end of the first round, Chris Hough was leading the way on 34 points, with Harry Gray (33), Martin Jeffers (31) and Edward Bell (32) hot on his heels. Debutant James “JP” Pigot carded a pretty weak 25 points, but was spared from the round 1 doghouse by Rick “RK” Kapur, who carded a dogged 19 points. 

 

Perhaps the biggest shock of the first round was the withdrawal of Doug Albon. Lack of suncream and water had taken a severe toll on him, resulting in a somewhat inevitable back injury, forcing him to sit on the beer terrace, drinking beer. He was gradually joined by the players with stronger backs as they finished their rounds, all eager to wolf down lunch and get back out there.

 

The Green course was a different test, with shorter holes and more encroachy trees. It was no surprise to see steady duo Will Rowe (36) and Martin Jeffers (34) scoring well on this track. Tom Wigglesworth also started to make a move, with 3 birdies in 5 holes from the turn propelling him up the leaderboard and once again appearing to validate the lessons and practice approach to game improvement and consistency. Chris Hough kept his form up and booked his place in the final group for round 3 alongside Rowe, Jeffers and Wigglesworth with a solid 32 points. The ever unpopular George Vaughan even played quite well, with a solid 36 point round giving him hope of another push for The Jacket. . Harry Gray was fighting the pulls, but managed to scrape home with 29 points. RK (26) tried to keep JP (28) in touch in the battle for the hound, but was clearly concerned by the 8 shot deficit. 

 

It was Saturday morning. The 3rd and final round of The 14th Jacket was about to get underway. As the players congregated on the first tee, the excitement was palpable, although it was hard to unpick it from the excitement for the now traditional appearance of the franchised Wigglesworth Snr tuck shop, which had stocked each player with an array of moral and waist line boosting sustenance from the local Asda.

 

As the hound pack trudged off down the first hole, the gentle jangling of Jacket nerves could be heard all around the first tee box. Despite the 8 shot deficit, RK was clearly up for the dog fight, buoyed by JP’s remarkable achievement of gaining negative yardage on consecutive shots, combining bottom draw striking with the use of hard obstacles to send his game into free fall. 1 point for the first 7 holes followed. Could RK fight back? 

 

At the top of the leaderboard, Tom Wigglesworth good golfed his way into the lead, with a solid 18 point front 9, which was matched by chasing commissioner Harry Gray. WIll Rowe started the back 9 well, just as Wigglesworth faltered a little. Gray was clinging on, despite a ragged blob on the par 5 11th. It was tuck and nip up there. Edward Bell and Richard Scott played some decent stuff to climb through the ranks although it was too little too late to challenge for the biggest prize. Their form was not matched by George Vaughan, who had dropped down the leaderboard like a stone. One observer commented that on seeing Vaughan’s challenge fade, Gray had appeared to start a process of galvanisation.  It was as if he was being slowly submerged in a delicious elixir of his brother-in-law’s frustration and suffering, but instead of this coating him with a layer of protective zinc, he emerged coated with inspiration, motivation and metaphorical steel. Onlookers did comment that he did look like he may have also been coated with actual zinc and / or steel, given his all grey apparel, grey hair and tired grey complexion. 

 

Despite this literal metaphorical galvanisation, Gray was grinding. A hooked drive up 16 landed him in a fairway bunker, which he escaped with a slinging 6 iron hook to a green side swathe. His straightforward chip was knifed through the green causing an explosion of self loathing. RIddled with nerves, he dug in to not knife or duff the next chip, before holing a 12 footer to save bogey for 2 precious points. A slightly scruffy par via a fairway bunker on 17 followed, leaving Gray in a strong position as he stood on the 18th tee. 

 

Wigglesworth had recovered his form and was making a late charge. Rowe had been well positioned to claim his first Jacket win, but his push sadly ended as he dumped his approach to 17 into the water. His dreams sinking along with whatever ball he’d used for that hole. Meanwhile, the hound pack were back home. Despite JP’s abject form collapse (15), RK (20) wasn’t able to haul him in, meaning he’d be heading home with his old friend, The Hound. 

 

As Wigglesworth was putting out for a brilliant birdie on 17, Gray teed off up the hill towards the clubhouse with a fairway finding cut. It was going down to the wire. It is difficult to know what Gray was thinking as he stood over his ball on the 18th fairway, a second Jacket win tantalisingly close, but it was probably a focus on making good swing, alongside a hope that the bar would be better staffed in the evening after the long waits of the Friday night. A good swing he made, the green he found. It was the best shot he’d hit all weekend. A pin high 10 footer awaited. 

It is difficult to know that Gray was thinking over that putt, but it was probably that he wanted to hole it, alongside a speculative conclusion that the bar service might have already been a bit better as a few of the boys already had beers on the go as they sat and watched the closing action. His putter rocked back, then through, the ball rolled forwards, then forwards with some right to left break, finally toppling into the hole. Gray was in the clubhouse on +9 for The Jacket, leaving WIgglesworth needing a hole out eagle to tie. A solid par followed, meaning Gray had won his second Jacket. A historic win, the first by a commissioner in the modern Jacket era and one that gave great hope to all the commissioners to come. Gray was warmly congratulated by all but one of the field. Only George Vaughan lacked the common decency to acknowledge the achievement. Gray didn’t care, he had been galvanised by the Vaughan form collapse. Galvanised to glory.