Brian Claims Classic Win

11th March 2010

Brian Parkinson played superb golf around the tough venue that is Rusper Golf Club to claim his first victory on the SCC Tour.

35pts were enough for a 2 point win over Chun Sung & Barry Bates.

Barry had been the leader at the halfway stage, making the turn with an sublime 21pts. Barry was the only player in the 25 man field not to drop a shot on the front nine. John Pagdin was in 2nd at this stage on 19pts and well on his way to making his first cut in 6 starts.

Brian was tied 3rd alongside Peter OLoughlin. Both players had played to their handicaps and were well placed to make a back nine charge. Chun Sung, Mike King & Kenny Du were tied 5th on 16pts. Not bad after both players failed to score on the opening hole.

Barry continued his good run on the back nine and by the end of the 12th hole he had reached 29pts. That was 5pts clear of John & Peter in 2nd on 24pts. Brian and Chun were T4 on 21pts.

Kenny and Mike had dropped a place to 6th after Kenny started his back nine with two nett bogeys. Another at the 14th would see him drop out of contention and when he failed to post any more points over the closing three holes, 25pts would see Kenny finish outside the top 10 for the first time in 2010. Mike shot a double bogey at 10 and followed that up with a nett bogey at 11. His nett birdie at 12 was negated by a nett bogey at 13. and when he failed to score at 14, Mike's chances were gone. But Mike has now been in contention in his last two outings for around two thirds of the tournament. A bit of stamina might see him lift a trophy in 2010. Mike would eventually finish in 7th on 28pts.

Meanwhile a nett bogey at 13 for Barry was met with a nett birdie from John and the lead was down to 3pts. Brian posted a second nett eagle of his round to move into 3rd on his own with 25pts. Peter was in 4th on 24pts after he failed to score at the par 5. Chun was T5th on 23pts and was joined by Manuel Kizirian when his 2nd nett birdie of the back nine had put him on 8pts from the turn.

Barry only recently joined the SCC Tour and so this was his first time in contention. It definitely wont be his last, but a run of bad holes on the back nine were to cost him his chance at a first title. Barry double bogeyed the 14th & 15th to remain on 30pts and was now in a tie for the lead with Brian. Brian had shot nett birdie, nett par over the same two holes to close the 5pt gap between them. John didn't score on the 14th and only posted a nett bogey at 15 to lie 2pts behind the leaders. Manuel was in 4th on 27pts after a nett bogey at 15 had cancelled out his nett birdie from 14. Chun had shot nett par, nett bogey to remain in 5th on 26ts. Peter was starting to slide down the leaderboard when his nett bogey, nett birdie effort meant he had only 1pt from the last 3 holes.. He would nett par the final 3 holes for a total of 31pts and 6th place on his own. Another good finish for Peter and it wont be long before he is back amongst the contenders again.

There were only 4pts separating the top 5 with 3 holes to go. Brain hits the top spot at 16 when his nett par gives him a 1pt lead. Barry's woes continued and another nett bogey puts him on 31pts. Manuel and John swap places with Manuel moving into 3rd thanks to a nett par. John failed to make any points at 16 and would slip to 4th. Chun's nett bogey would see him hold on to 5th place.

The 17th is a tough little par 3. Only 152 yards on the card, but it is uphill and bunkers protect it left and right. Brian (32pts) failed to score on this hole, but kept his lead  when Barry (31pts) also walked off with a double bogey. Manuel's (31pts) nett par would see him T2nd standing on the 18th tee. John (30pts) holed out for a nett par and he was joined in fourth by Chun (30pts) thanks to a nett birdie.

Barry was first to reach the 18th and this hole and he would become leader in the clubhouse with 33pts after scoring a nett par. Chun Sung & Manuel were in the 4th group out and both players would need to shoot nett birdies to match Barry's score. Manuel would post a nett bogey and finish in T4 on 32pts. Chun meanwhile would post that required nett birdie and match Barry's score of 33pts. Chun was now the clubhouse leader courtesy on a better back nine (Countback).

Brian was next up and would need a nett par or better to win the tournament, he chose the better option and finished in style with a nett birdie and a total of 35pts. John was in the group behind and now needed a nett albatross to match Brian's score. A solid nett par would give John 32pts and a T4 finish. His only other top 10 finish was at Rusper in 2009 when he finished 2nd. John loves this course so watch out for him around here next year.

The day belonged to Brian. Playing off a handicap of 12, Brian had to bring his top game to Rusper and he did. 35pts was a great score at this tough course. Any ball off line would usually result in a dropped shot, but Brian remained calm and collected. The victory may have been all the more sweeter as his two sons, Joe & Martin were there to see him collect his trophy.

Kevin Wellings won the medal for Nearest The Pin at the 4th hole.
Chun Sung won the medal for Longest Drive at the 9th hole with 220 yards. (into the wind).

That wraps up The Winter Swing 2010. A full report on how that panned out will be published next week. The SCC Tour will have to wait 5 weeks for the start of The Spring Swing 2010 when Silvermere host the first tournament. It's the last chance for the members to win their place in The Swing Finale at the end of the season.

But before that, we have the fourth SCC Major, The Foxbridge Season Classic 2010. This is the final round of a four round tournament played over the previous 3 Swings. Foxbridge Golf Club are our hosts on 28th March.