The IPGC Monthly Members’ Tournament
Wednesday, March 2, Phoenix – Stoke/Stableford
The first Wednesday in March saw the largest field of IPGC members for a few months assemble at Phoenix for the third IPGC members’ tournament of the year. The Ocean and Mountain combination was quite well presented and with the top flight playing from the blue tees and white for the rest, there was a fine contest in prospect.
Each monthly member’s tournament provides three winners in the divisions and one from the ladies, who will go forward to the finals to compete for the Gold and Silver Medals later in the season. In addition the tournaments will also be used to determine the IPGC gentleman player of the year, with between 1 and 15 points to be won in each division every month, dependant on final positions, which will then be aggregated for the year to establish the overall winner. As usual the first division contested a stroke play format whilst the second, third and Ladies’ division played stableford.
In the first division the competition was very close with only two shots (gross) separating the top five golfers. It was left to handicaps to decide the outcome and in third place, playing off nine, was Brian Libbey with net 75. In second place was organiser Russell Exley with net 74 and the flight was won by Jim Slattery with a competent net 73.
The second division played stableford and the pressure was rather less acute as Patrick Engles finished third with 34 points, a handful behind runner-up Phil Groves with 39. The winner was Shuichi Kodaka who produced his best round for a while to take the flight with 43 handsome points.
The third division was won by Danny Greer with 35 points, Roar Berger finished second with 33 points and a count-back separated Rod Howett and Ted Murphy both on 30 points, with Ted losing out for third place after only managing 15 points on the back nine.
The ladies’ winner was Tik Mayer on 32 points, edging out Noi Emerson on 31.
In the ‘2’s competitions there were only six birdies, with Brian Beaupre and Jim Slattery winning in the top flight and Shuichi Kodaka, Alan Griffiths, Patrick Engels and Emmet White being successful in the second flight. There were no ‘2’s in the third flight. The near-pin winners are listed below.
After the tournament there was the usual excellent presentation buffet at The Haven. The function and prizes were sponsored generously as always by the IPGC, and those who had contributed to the success of the day were warmly thanked. They included the perpetual Registrar Glyn Evans, Starter John Mason, results coordinator Stephen Beard and the hard working event organiser Russell Exley for whom the day had been another resounding success.
The official prize-winners are listed below but the full list of results can be seen on the excellent official IPGC website at http://www.ipgc.org.
Division 1
1st Jim Slattery net 73
2nd Russell Exley net 74
3rd Brian Libbey net 75
Division 2
1st Shuichi Kodaka 43pts
2nd Phil Groves 39pts
3rd Patrick Engels 34pts
Division 3
1st Danny Greer 35pts
2nd Roar Berger 33pts
3rd Rod Howett 30pts
Ladies
1st Tik Mayer 32pts
2nd Noi Emmerson 31pts
2’s: Brian Beaupre, Jim Slattery, Shuichi Kodaka, Alan Griffiths, Patrick Engels, Emmett White.
Near Pins: Peter Ditz, Mauri Friman, Noi Emerson, Jim Slattery (2), Patrick Engels, Roar Berger, Kare Lunde, Marty Rock, John Radcliffe.
