Stableford Championship 22

STABLEFORD

championship

03 - 04 August 2022 Whittington Heath Golf Club

The 2022 Stableford Championship returned to its spiritual home of Whittington Heath Golf Club after an absence of two years, owing to the COVID pandemic.

Throughout that time everything has had a monumental makeover. From the brand new modern clubhouse and halfway house, to the course being reconfigured to include five brand new holes. For all intents and purposes, it was a new course for most of the field.

Having navigated the problems of the last two years, we hoped this year would see as smooth a competition as we have had in the past, unfortunately this was not to be the case. With a full field of players (63) one week prior to the competition we had not accounted for the MOD mobilising 250 Service Personnel to assist with the management of the Commonwealth Games which were being held at various locations across the Midlands. The result saw all military accommodation commandeered for the Games and the AGA only able to secure 16 beds for

Lt Col (Retd) Jim Ferrier

officers and senior ranks only, no junior rank accommodation! Those players booked into the competition who had annotated their requirement for accommodation had to therefore find alternative themselves or withdraw from the event – we ended up with a field of 42 starters.

Day one started in overcast but humid conditions with a stiff breeze whistling across the five new holes (1-5), only abating once the play entered the old areas of the course where the established tree lines offered some degree of protection. With the country having just experienced an unprecedented heatwave the course was starting to suffer the effects with yellowing and hard baked fairways, although the tee boxes and greens remained watered and lush.

All in all, the course was set up to provide a good test of golf, taxing enough for the lower handicap players and forgiving enough for the high handicap players.

The field was slightly reduced on recent years although there were still two ladies amongst the field of 42, with last year’s reigning champion, LCpl Niki Sutton AGC (SPS), back to defend her title.

Sgt Ashley James Inf

As the morning progressed, the clouds blew through, and the sun shone brightly raising the temperature and making for a very warm day. The course offered opportunities for the more adventurous where the reward of a birdie or two was

some we have played on this year (with the long dry spell the greens may have been kept deliberately longer to protect them from burning out). Having already played 18 holes, the players were more familiar with the course and better placed to know when and where to take a risk for the resulting reward. As a result, the scoring remained high with a further ten players scoring above 36pts.

WO2 Gregory Tucker RLC

well worth the shot; either way staying on the fairways was always going to be the way to shoot a low score.

Round one saw some excellent scores posted with 16 players scoring 36pts or more. Capt Mukunda Rajali Inf playing off 25, was the club house leader with a score of 43pts, followed by the reigning champion Sutton in joint second on 41pts along with WO2 Gregory Tucker RLC and Pte Tim Shaw RLC. Then followed three more on 39pts, Sgt Pasang Sherpa RLC, Sgt Brett Evans AMS and Lt Col (Retd) Jim Ferrier. Mr Ian Bosley and Maj Stephen Johnson AMS were one back on 38pts. Other scores: 37pts – SSgt Alan Finn R Sigs, Padre (Maj) Patrick O’Driscoll Inf and Lt Col Adrian Grinonneau Inf, and 36pts – Lt Col (Retd) Warren Ginn, Mr Bill Vale, WO2 Clinton Hamblett RE and Maj Sean Stevenson RLC. The second round of day one continued in glorious sunshine and as the course continued to dry out, drives were running longer but the greens remained receptive, true and slightly slower than

With a second high score of the day, Rajali continued in fine form, scoring another round with 41pts (a total of 84pts after two rounds). Sgt Ashley James Inf hit 40pts followed by three on 38pts – WO1 John Butler RLC, Cpl Saugat Gurung RLC and SSgt Adrian Bennett R Sigs. One back on 37pts was the local lad from Whittington Heath, Mr Bill Vale, and O’Driscoll. Then on 36pts were another three – Bosley, Bott and Sutton.

After two rounds the leaderboard stood thus: Rajali Sutton Tucker James O’Driscoll Bosley Sherpa Vale Ferrier Shaw

25 8 17 18 14 15 20 17 24 9

84pts 77pts 75pts 74pts 74pts 74pts 74pts 73pts 73pts 72pts

LCpl Niki Sutton AGC (SPS)

Day two started as day one finished, with the weather conditions remaining hot and with a steady breeze; although the temperature had reduced slightly it was still going to create the odd problem if concentration levels lapsed.

Early morning work by the greenkeepers saw a change of pin positions and a trimming of the greens. So, with hard packed fairways meaning the straight fairway bound shot would continue to roll for unprecedented distances and with receptive greens all was in place for another high scoring day – time would tell.

As things stood, there were realistically 6 or 7 players in with a chance, but of course this would need both the leader to faulter a little, which could happen off a 25 handicap, and the chasing pack to score well.

Based on the scoring of round three the players were taking advantage of the dry conditions as the scoring remained high with 33 players posting 30pts or more, with Finn hitting 44pts, followed by Cpl

Alistair Hennessey RE on 40pts, which was particularly good playing off 5. One back were James and the overnight leader Rajali on 39pts. Then came four players on 38pts – Hamblett, Bosley, O’Driscoll, and Tucker. So there were several players posting consistently good scores over the two days. Sutton carded another sub handicap score of 37pts as did Sgt Jason Chester Inf, and one of our long-standing attendees and a former Chair AGA, Lt Col (Retd) Roger Crook.

The leaderboard was slowly taking shape but going into the final round it was only the 2nd to 7th places that were going to be contested: Rajali Sutton James Tucker Finn Bosley O’Driscoll

123pts 114pts 113pts 113pts 112pts 112pts 112pts

The heat and difficult conditions were starting to take their toll on players in the fourth and final round, but those in the last three flights off the 1st knew that second place was up for grabs.

The final round proved equally forgiving as another 29 players posted 30pts or better, with 14 on 36pts or more. The clubhouse leader Rajali was again in a rich vein of form, completing his final round with a score or 46pts (whilst eyebrows were raised he did play well).

5pts back was Hamblett, then one back on 40pts were Sherpa and WO1 Vicky van Zyl AMS. Then came four players on 39pts - Finn, WO1 Charlie Brown AGC (SPS), Bott, and Sgt Brett Evans AMS. WO2 Steven Ball AGC (SPS) posted 38pts, and Chester, Bennett and Shaw were on 37pts. Sutton could only manage 34pts which on any other day may have been enough to retain her title.

WO1 Vicky Van Zyl AMS

So, after two long days in the sun and wind, Rajali could not be caught, winning

with an incredible 169pts, 18pts more than second placed Finn on 151pts.

Interestingly, in 2021 Sutton won with score of 151pts. Rajali played well, but I suspect his handicap will be reduced considerably once CDH runs its updates. [edit – Rajali’s handicap at the time of printing has been reduced to 17.3].

Scoring in general in the top ten places was around 10pts better from last year, with the competition winner remarking that he found this course somewhat easier to play than his home course of Catterick Garrison.

The prizes were shared out evenly with Capt Mukunda Rajali Inf winning the Handicap Cup and also the Taylor/Bartley Trophy, for the best round of the competition with 46pts. The Scratch Winner, taking the Courage Cup, was Maj Sean Stevenson RLC with 126pts. The Harrison’s Shield for the Senior winner

(over 45) went to SSgt Alan Finn R Sigs with 151pts.

Our thanks go to the President and Captain of Whittington Heath GC, Mr Kelvin Edwards and Mr Paul Keen. To Colin White, the General Manager, and his team for helping to arrange the event and for helping our team with the high-tech IT setup in the club! To Nicky Manley and the restaurant staff for their kind hospitality. To Mike Raj, the Club Professional, and finally to Adam Jones, the Course Manager, and his team of greenkeeping staff for presenting an excellent, challenging course. The AGA is indebted to all at Whittington Heath for their long-standing association with both the military and the AGA. We will return in 2023 and have agreed to continue there until at least 2030.

Photos can be found here and results can be found here.

L to R: Harrison's Shield Winner - SSgt Alan Finn R Sigs Taylor/Bartley Trophy & Handicap Cup Winner - Capt Mukunda Rajali Inf Courage Cup Winner - Maj Sean Stevenson RLC