Page 14 - RCGC Mag

SENIORS’ PAIR GO CLOSE IN NATIONAL FINAL

In early March 2017, Steve Lapage and Ian Barrowcliffe from our Seniors’ Section entered the
Seniors Golf Association National Pairs Competition. The Pairs and the Club 4-man Team events are
better-ball knockout matches, played regionally in the early rounds, with the semi-finals and final at
Staverton Park - an excellent and central venue. Fixtures are arranged so that each alternate round is
home or away, to level the playing field a bit, and in the early rounds travel is minimised to about 75
minutes, wherever possible. Courtesy of the course is given to visiting players at 95% of participating
clubs (though sadly not ours) with the age limit at 55 and handicap limit 18. All proceeds from the
events are donated to The Royal British Legion

After five rounds of regional matches against pairs from Alton, Chobam, Reigate, Basildon and
Maesteg, Steve and Ian finally arrived at the De Vere Estate, near Daventry for the plate finals held
Staverton Park GC over 15-17 October.

After a practice round on Sunday, we
were drawn against Cambridge
Meridian in the semi-final the
following day. Regrettably one of the
other semi-finalists (Harrogate) had to
withdraw through injury so one lucky
pair (Staverton Park GC) had a bye to
the final.
Steve on the picturesque
th
Par-3 12 hole

The semi-final took place in warm
but windy weather (Storm Ophelia
made its presence known) and we
played solid golf to win 2&1. The
final the following day against the
host club’s pair, although evenly
matched on paper, saw the
Staverton Pair capitalise on home
advantage to win comfortably in the
end.
Winners and Runners-Up

Despite falling at the final hurdle our experience, not just at the finals but throughout the year, was
thoroughly enjoyable and we would recommend it to all club golfers who are eligible. The Team
event allows for 7 players to be nominated at the start of the competition, and next year the Pairs
event will also feature a nominated substitute.

More details can be found at: http://www.seniorsgolfassociation.co.uk/