Junior Captain's Centenery

Centeneries don't come around very often - about once every 100 years or so. So, when you get one you do something special.

To celebrate BSGC's first centenery the Junior Section, led by captain Lewis Chalk, joined in the celebrations with a special Centenery Day event on Thursday 12th August. Starting off with a putting competition, this was followed by an 18 hole medal competition to run concurrently with a 9 hole Stableford event for the younger players, culminating in lunch and prize-giving. For the day a special invitation was extended to some colts and past juniors and it was good to see them in attendance.

What a pleasure to see BSGC's burgeoning Junior Section in all it's pomp, displaying for all to see the depth of talent available.

The weather was reasonably kind (bearing in mind this was mid-summer in England-so expect Autumnal conditions). Lewis, naturally, had the honour of first drive which he performed with his usual aplomb. And we were away. Fine drive followed fine drive as the stroke-play competitors led off. Not to be outdone our younger 9-hole competitors showed their abilities by emulating their "senior" juniors by sending fairway-splitting drives down the first, albeit not quite so far, but give them time!

Yours truly wandered around the course with teeth-clenching admiration at the standard of golf, wondering where he'd gone wrong. Perhaps he should take up an easier sport like hang-gliding or bull fighting? Nevertheless the feeling was that thanks to our chief honcho who doesn't like to be named (so for the purposes of this report we shall just call him Graham Oram) the Junior Section is a considerable force to be reckoned with and will surely remain so for many years to come.

After a good lunch, courtesy of Bouquet Garni, came the prize giving. And here we must extend our great thanks to the generosity of Anne and Alan Buck who kindly donated the prizes and the beautiful winner's trophy. Lewis was called upon to carry out the duty he had sooooo been looking forward to, namely his Captain's speech. And what a good speech. Very confident and assured. What were you worried about, Chalky? Ollie Churcher, himself a former Junior Captain, responded on behalf of the guests and we would like to offer a big Junior "Thank You" to Ollie for his kind response.

So on to the prize giving.

The putting competitions were won by Danny Kitteridge and Jack Palfreman.

In the 9-hole Stableford event the winner with 24 points was Adam Crowther, who only started playing about 4 months ago. Runner up, fresh from his success in the USofA, was Max Hopkins with 21 points. Longest drive went to William Rolph whilst Sarah Grout (one of our exciting new young ladies) was nearest the pin at the 8th.

The 18 hole medal competition produced an outstanding winner, with a nett 62, in Nick Tunnicliffe (87-25) whilst Lewis Chalk continued his great form (having just won the Ian Poulter invitation event at Woburn) with a nett 66. Just to emphasise that BSGC has great players of both genders, Charlie Field had the best gross score with a 72.

The longest drive was shared (don't know how) by Hayley Shaw and Levi Smith. Nearest the pin at the 17th was Cameron Poulter and nearest the pin in 2 at the 14th was Tom Bush.

At the end of prize giving Nick Tunnicliffe, as the main competition winner, made a spontaneous thank-you speech in which he impressed all those present with his confidence and self-assurance. (Must be something to do with the genes!) Trevor of Bouquet Garni was no doubt chuffed to learn that his food was "tasty"!

As with any event of this nature there are lots of unsung heroes so on behalf of the Junior Section we extend our thanks for all the help and support given in making such a success of the day.