And so we came to the final of the World Series of Golf Jim Goaby Quaich featuring myself and Tony Muldoon played over the little known and rarely mentioned West course at North Berwick. As usual Martin Bonnar was on hand to record proceedings and he took the precaution of bringing along Nancy in case the excitement of the occasion became too much.
Half way down the first Tony and I set the rules of engagement, number of strokes etc, and quickly agreed a couple of “local rules”. The first local rule was that in order to reduce the amount of mucking about looking for balls that we’d adopt the Judges Rule from Rye which states that if you lose a ball you can simply chuck a replacement ball down near where you think you lost it, adding two to your score and on the proviso that you could only then half the hole and not win it. The second local rule was that whoever had the honour got to pick whichever tee position at the next hole, be it medal, mens or ladies.
That decided we got on with the game and I managed to get off to a pretty decent start establishing a 2 hole lead after 4. I then began to play some quite scrappy golf as Tony then moved seamlessly through the gears to turn the score round to him being 4 up after 12. I managed to rally and par’d the next three holes however Tony was solid and I only managed to get back one stroke. Tony eventually closed out the match on the 16th to deservedly win 3 & 2.
There was much chat before the match and indeed during it about our respective ailments but I can use none of that as an excuse. Indeed no excuses are needed, I was simply beaten by a better golfer. So let me ask you, wherever you are, to raise a glass to the other Champion Golfer of the Year 2017, Mr Tony Muldoon.
Niall