Tha Wing's Tour Win

10th November 2009

Tha Wing Yau finally captured his first SCC Tour win at The Pine Ridge Stableford.

Tha Wing shot 44pts narrowly beating Will Lewis who was just a point further back.

Tha Wing had been in the top 5 at the turn in 3 of the last 4 tournaments, but fell away on the back nine to record only one top 10 finish. This time he turned tied for the lead with Will on 22pts. Charles Chan, winner in 2005 was in 3rd on 21pts. Kenny Du & Lee Missen were tied fourth on 20pts.

Lee double bogeyed the 12th to fall out of the top 5 and when another came at the 14th, Lee's hopes of winning his 3rd tournament of the year were gone.  Lee would make the cut, eventually finishing down in T14th place with 33pts.

Kenny had a steady back nine shooting 17pts. Three nett pars from the turn were followed by two nett bogeys. Another run of 3 nett pars and a nett birdie to finish would leave Kenny down in a tie for 6th place with 37pts. A consolation would see Kenny top the MCP table after 4 swings.

Eric Chan finished in 5th place with 38pts. Having reached the turn with 16pts, Eric's back nine of 22pts saw two nett birdies cancelled out with a double bogey at 13. But a run of four nett birdies to finish gave Eric 12pts over the final four holes.

Charles started his back nine with a nett eagle, nett birdie combination to tied Tha Wing for the lead after 11 holes. Two nett bogeys would follow to see him drop down into 3rd place. A nett birdie at the 16th would push him back into a tie for 2nd on 37pts with Will. 3pts behind Tha Wing at that stage. A nett bogey, nett par finish would give Charles fourth place.

Kevin Wellings is sneaky good. After recovering from his knee injury earlier this year, Kevin has just got better and better. His cuts made now extend to 22 tournaments and the last 6 months has seen his handicap drop from 21 to 15. With 19pts after 9 holes, Kevin was down in 6th place. He picked up shots at 11, 15 & 18 with nett birdies, with his only dropped shot coming at the 16th. A nett eagle at 14 would give him 22pts over the back nine to finish in 3rd place.

Will Lewis came very close to winning his first tournament in only 4 starts on the SCC Tour. With nett par, birdie, eagle to start his back nine, Will was still tied for the lead with Tha Wing on 31pts. Tha Wing has started his back nine with 3 nett birdies.

At the 13th Tha Wing would shoot another nett birdie to gain a 1pt lead over Will who shot a nett par.

That lead was doubled at the 14th, when Tha Wing would shoot his 5th straight nett birdie to move onto 37pts. Will shot another nett par to lie on 35pts.

Tha Wing looked to have the tournament sewn up at the 15th when his 6th nett birdie in a row created a further 2pt advantage over Will's nett bogey. Tha Wing was now on 40pts, Will on 36pts.

The short uphill par 4 16th  should be a birdie opportunity for players on their game, but Tha Wing failed to record a score at this hole to remain on 40pts. Will failed to capitalise on this mistake and could only manage a nett bogey to remain 3pts back with two holes to play.

The 17th hole is a short par 3 over a small gulley. Short or left and you have a difficult uphill shot. Too long or righ and you could be in the trees. Tha Wing walked off with a nett bogey to move onto 41pts. Will would put the pressure on when he shot a nett birdie to lie on 40pts with only the 18th hole remaining.

Tha Wing was in danger of having one hand on the trophy a few holes back only to see it slip from his grasp. Will was playing well and it was down to the final hole, the par 5 18th. Tha Wing in the 2nd group was one group ahead of Will, so he would have the chance to post his score first. With both players on 22pts at the turn, it would come down to countback if the scores were tied after 18 holes. With Will's better score over the closing 6 holes, Will would take the trophy.

Tha Wing played the hole well and recorded a nett birdie, his 7th of the back nine to finish on 44pts. It was down to Will. He would need a nett eagle at the last to tie on pts. A valiant effort by Will would also see him score a nett birdie and finish on 43pts.

Jamie Rollinson won the medal for Longest Drive at the 8th hole.
Chun Sung won the medal for Nearest The Pin at the 17th hole.

Tha Wing & Will both played great golf over the 18 holes. There will be other days for Will. He came across another player who dug deep. Tha Wing has finally crossed the line with his first win. To come back from double bogey, nett bogey to shoot a nett birdie at the last shows that the game was always there. Tha Wing just needed to believe in himself.

Hopefully he will take that new found confidence into The Winter Swing 2010 starting in two weeks time when the SCC Tour returns to The Woldingham for The Winter Challenge.