Singles Matchplay Knockout Final
(George Pawson Trophy)
Wednesday, 18th October 2017
Today saw the final of the Singles Matchplay Knockout played out.
In the final was Keith Green (pictured left) and Terry Crofts (right).
Fortunately the forecasted rain never appeared and the match was played in dry and reasonably mild conditions. Neither was there any of the strong breeze that we had experienced the day before. So everything was in place for an exciting match.
Terry (9) was conceding 5 strokes to Keith (14).
Terry got off to a good start taking the 1st hole. The 2nd was halved and then Keith fought back with a win on the 3rd. Terry went ahead again on the 4th but Keith squared the match again with a win on the 5th hole.
Keith then took charge by winning the next 2 holes to go 2 Up. However, that didn’t last long as Terry won the 8th and 9th holes to square the match again. All Square at the half way point and this was proving to be a very close battle.
Terry won the 10th hole to go 1 Up. The next 3 holes were halved and then at the 14th Keith overshot the green with his tee shot, overdid the chip shot coming back, and had to settle for a 4. Terry got a clinical 3, took the hole and went to 2 Up with 4 to play.
15th & 16th were nail-bitingly both halved so now Keith was faced with having to win the last 2 holes to keep in the match.
Up to now Terry had been the model of consistency with his tee shots, but on the 17th he found the left bunker. The door was now open for Keith, but unfortunately he chose this moment to hit one of his most wayward tee shots sending it way over the trees to the right. Cruelly his provisional tee shot landed within a couple of club lengths of the hole. Keith’s original ball was found in the rough. The 2nd shot got him out of the rough but the 3rd ended up overshooting the hole by 20 yards. Meanwhile Terry, whose ball in the bunker had found a footprint kindly left by a previous player, did well to come out the bunker and a little way through the green.
As this was a shot hole for Keith all was not over yet. Could he chip in for a 4 Nett 3? or perhaps a 5 Nett 4 would be ok? Sadly he didn’t catch the ball cleanly and only progressed a few yards, still off the green. Terry’s 3rd shot, from off the green had only one destination right from the start … the hole! The match was finally over with a 3&1 win for Terry Crofts.
An excellent match throughout, played in true sportsmanship fashion by both players.
Richard Hone
Match Referee