Old Owens Open

Old Owens Annual Golf Day

Old Owens Golf Day

3rd Annual Old Owens Gold Championship

Venue - Essendon Golf Club

Date - 13th July

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2nd Annual Old Owens Gold Championship

Venue - Potters Bar Golf Club

Date - 7th July 2006

On Tuesday evening, as myself and Cheeko took a gentle yet brisk walk to Kings Cross station from our respective work places, the temperature was at a cool 41 degrees Celsius and to my knowledge there was a full quota of budding golfers ready to take on the challenge of tackling the Hertfordshire equivalent of Pebble Beach. What a difference 3 days make ! By the first tee off time we were down to 22 players, and unlike on that glorious Tuesday evening, instead of being soaked in the beautifully scented sweat that myself and Cheeks are normally accustomed to, we were starting to get drenched by that fine rain that normally comes our way towards the end of the footy season. Still we were not to be deterred and set off in our 3/4 balls to battle all elements.

Before I go on about the day, I must name and shame those who pulled out at the last minute. Those with valid reasons are Scott Langran who claims he handed in his holiday form to his hr department only for them to lose it and not allow him the time off without pay, and to the oldest member of the society, Roy Dingle, who is currently recovering for multiple heart operations and to who we wish a full and speedy recovery.

Right the P.W.L.U.D. (Pric*s who let us down) - Tim Perkins and Steve Colvin who apparently are embroiled in a gay love triangle with another member of their PE staff and took themselves off to a "training course" probably in Brighton or San Francisco. Steve Forwell who decided the £45 fee might be better used to pay off his landlord than get kicked onto the streets for a second time, but was it paid in on Friday, only time will tell. Paul Bromley who forgot he'd even agreed to play. Matt Arvanitis who was most likely holidaying in the Bahamas. Rob Fielder - does anyone know who this bloke is ? And finally Gregory Hodge, who had to pick up his sister from the airport and although this might be a valid reason, he still had the option of bringing her up the club later on that evening to make things up to his fellow club mates but didn't, so therefore stays on the P.W.L.U.D list.

Anyway onto the day itself, and it was last years reigning champion that took to the tee first, was Colin Baxter or should I say, COLON BOXSTER, going to be able to defend his championship that he so magnificently won last year. By the sight of him and his playing partner on the 15th fairway, not likely ! As the 4 ball of Boxster, Champers, Bully and Little Mann drove off in their beer filled buggies the heavens opened, and the rest wondered what the hell they'd let themselves in for. However the rain was not to last, pretty much like some of the superb golf action witnessed along the first few holes.

The bookies favourite and course specialist Steve Pearce set off next with Gripper and the unknown quantity that was Half Nelson. On self calling a handicap of 24, Half Nelson was immediately cut down to an 18 after a brilliant drive down the first fairway. This was a very good call by Pearcey as little Nels powered around the course with a couple of birdies thrown in for good measure.

Next off was the trio of the little, large and larger combination of Pritch, Nunny and Crewy who looked remarkably like famous sketch of classes the two Ronnie's and John Cleese delivered followed by the other set of older statesmen Red, JT and Cotts. The sight of seeing Cotts hit one ball after another into the bushes along the 16th will live long in the memory, not sure how he still manage to score a 5 though !, and then his playing partner JT gently striking his ball from near on 100 yards through a 6 ft gap that was myself and Hawkey, brought back the memories of a number of pinpoint goals he's scored through his illustrious career !

The custodian that is Flint, the all round sports superstar that is Breeze Jnr and the "ALL ROUND" star that is Cheeko were off next and the funniest thing about this trio, apart from Flinty's golf, was the fact that the two young ones hired themselves a buggy and let our new honourable sectary walk ! Still the thought of the buffet and late night curry got the Cheeks through what must have been quite a traumatic ordeal and he even managed quite a reasonable score.

The penultimate grouping was made up of Randall, Christofides and Lloyd. The three were actually due to tee off first, but Mr Randall decided he fancied playing Old Fold Manor instead of PB and only the lure of a late night curry managed him to speed down the A1000 in order to take his place. The last but not least 3 ball was made up of the big Mann, Hughesy and Hawkeye. We believe that Hawkey actually got the dates wrong as his attire was more suitable for next weeks cricket match than it was for a round of golf. Still the attire of one golf shoe and one trainers and full cricket whites minus pads proved lucky enough to allow him to skim through lakes, rivers and bunkers and achieve a vast improvement on last years final score.

In terms of the trophies up for grabs, the first was settled on the 13th green with the nearest to the pin competition. Now the winner was one COLON BOXSTER, but more surprisingly and probably more embarrassingly was the fact that he was the only one to hit the green. This is the first time in memory that I have awarded or seen awarded a trophy that was nearer the tee than the hole, but fair do's to Colon as his one counted and no-one else's did.

The second trophy of the day went to the Big Mann for the longest drive. This was a little more competitive trophy with 5 players claiming there stake. Red led the way for a while with a drive of around 240 yards before the penultimate group member Christofides hit a cracking drive up the right hand side just past the bunkers, around 255 yards. With Cotts standing along side the 15th tee hitting balls for fun in the 16th fairway bushes, he was join by the Big Mann. Cotts was then witness to probably the longest 3 iron shot of his life, as Manny Snr hit the ball straight down the middle of the fairway landing where Louis' had stopped and resting up against the leg of old man Lloyd. If I do say myself, a drive of over 270/280 with a three iron isn't too bad and a worthy winner !

On to the Championship itself. There were some cracking scores throughout the day, with Cotton and Breeze shooting 37 and 38 points respectively, excellent golf and handicaps will be considered next year. The other player finishing on the 37 mark was Dave Bullock, who playing off 12 showed that he was truly the star of the day in terms of scoring the lowest gross. At the other end of the scale Flint put on a good show as our real none golfer by scoring 18. Hughes had a disappointing 24 but not quite as disappointing than the 24 that Mann Jnr had. Mann Jnr scored 21 of his 24 points on the front nine before succumbing to the evil Colon's 80 year old brandy. What could have been !!!

So on to the winner, after storming the front nine with 22 points and following up with a further 19 accumulating an amazing score of 41, Mike Nelson proved that he wasn't a 24 handicapper and even proved he was better than an 18 handicapper with a fantastic round. I was lucky enough to see one of his shots, and although that one ended up in the trees he proved with he elegant swing and brilliant timing that he was a deserving champion. Mike accepted the trophy with a speech that will live long in the memory, a simple "Thanks alot". Great words from a great man !

So that was that, another year another champion. See you again next year, when we take the Old Owens Golf Show on the road to a new destination.

All the best

Manny

P.S. A lot of people didn't want me to mention this but Cotts won the 10 yards bucket challenge by using only 7 balls !!!