Club Championship 2023

RENDALL WINS 17TH CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP

Orkney golf club held its club championship over 4 days this past week in conditions more resembling the Algarve rather than Orkney,

Dry and mostly sunny and warm conditions all week were much appreciated by the players, but the weather still made for tricky conditions, with players struggling to judge the run on the fairways and hold the fast drying greens, despite this the course is in excellent condition thanks to the hard working greenkeeping team.

Monday saw 2021 champion Ewan Rendall lead the way with a fine gross 68, he was closely followed by Neil Tait carding his first ever level par round of 69 on the new set up and defending champion Steven Rendall on 70.

Neil’s 61 net led the field for the nett trophy. 51 players took part in round one.

64 entered on Wednesday for the second round Paul Kemp’s 61 nett matched Neil’s earlier score while several players were in contention with scores of 64 to 62 nett for the DG Spence club nett trophy while the main event saw Neil Tait add a 73 to his first round 69 and hold a halfway lead over Lee Finlay, Steven, and Ewan who were all in close attention. The lowest rounds of the day were carded by Barry Reeve on 69 and Liam Smart with a 71.

Round 3 was again played in fine conditions with 61 taking part among those joining the chase for the nett trophy were Keith Leonard and Gary Farquhar with nett 62 and 63 respectively,  while in the hunt for the main trophy Lee Finlay carded the lowest round of the competition with a 5 birdie blitz to card an excellent gross 65 , Steven Walls although out of contention for the championship having missed the first round due to other commitments carded an excellent 68 gross.

Lee now led going into the final round by 2 shots from Steven and Ewan with Scott Walls in close contention while Neil’s third round saw him drop out of the running.

The final round again took part in lovely conditions for the 67 players although an Easterly breeze picked up throughout the day adding to the difficulty to the last group’s out which included all the main contenders for the overall championship,

In the nett competition Steven Walls added a second gross 68 for the low round of the day and a 2 round nett total of 128, but this was only good enough for second spot as John Thompson’s fine 63 nett including an outrageous 2 on the 10th with 40 plus foot putt added to his 64 from Wednesday night saw him claim the Cup by a shot.

Stevie Foulkes was 3rd with scores of 63 and 67 for a total of 130.

Onto the race for the honour of becoming the 2023 club champion and it was a nip and tuck  over the final round , an Eagle on the 11th saw Steven close the gap on Lee but he immediately gave the young pretender the shots back with a double bogie on the 12th , unfortunately for Lee 5 dropped shots from the 14th to the 18th handed the advantage back to Steven and he duly finished things off winning his 17th club championship by 2 shots with a 71 gross and 4 round total of 284 from Lee Finlay who recorded a 76 for a total of 286 , in third place was Ewan Rendall in 291 just ahead of Scott Walls on 292. Lowest gross on the day was a fine 67 from Michael Schinkell.

Bringing a fine week of golf to a close club vice-captain Neil Tait thanked everyone involved for making it another successful week of golf with particular thanks to Hugh Clyde for all his behind-the-scenes work, the bar staff and Chris and his team on the course throughout the week, and all those who took part. And he made a special thank you to Dougie Sinclair from sponsors Andrew Sinclair for their continued support of this competition.

At the end of the championship the Wilson cup team is announced and, on this occasion, the following players have qualified to represent the club, Steven Rendall, Lee Finlay, Stewart Thompson and Ewan Rendall, reserve Kenny Sinclair congratulations to them and good luck in Thurso where the event takes place this year.

Next week it’s the 2-round Flotilla Cup which will finish on Saturday with the first round on Wed.

Entry is through the normal channels.

PD Hook