IWGU Championship 2010

The Island Golf Championship has been played at Shanklin and Sandown Golf Club and has been won following some excellent golf by the Home Club’s Chris Reed.

The event is hosted by the Hovertravel sponsored, Isle of Wight Golf Union and is open to all golfers from Island Clubs. This year saw the introduction of a 36 hole handicap event played in conjunction with the traditional 36 hole scratch event, played in Saturday which is a qualifier for the Championship Matchplay rounds that are played on Sunday.

Freshwater Bay’s Brandon Thompson was the best player of the Saturday rounds winning both Scratch and Handicap events. A near faultless display in tricky conditions saw him shoot a 1 under par 69 in the morning followed by a 3 under par 67 in the afternoon to finish 3 shots clear of Reed who played well to also finish under par for the 2 rounds of golf. Matt Barnicoat (Shanklin and Sandown) finished on 144 (4 over par) to claim 3rd spot as George Foreman (Shanklin and Sandown) and 2005 champion Derek Wright (Freshwater Bay) tied for 4th place with 145, Wright matching Thompson’s 67 in the afternoon to force his way into contention after a disappointing morning 78. Foreman and Wright required a 4 hole play off to settle the final qualification spot for the Sunday Championship rounds which Foreman won when he chipped in for a Birdie 2 at the 3rd play off hole.

In the Handicap event the places went to Connor Knight also found the afternoon play more to his liking shooting a gross 71 for a nett 63 to claim 2nd place behind Thompson’s nett 134 with 137 beating 4 other players with the same 36 hole nett score on countback. Wright was the next placed of those players coming 3rd.

In the 18 hole handicap events played at the championship the winner of the Vice Presidents Cup was Shanklin and Sandown’s Keith Taylor with a nett 68 and the Capel Morris Cup for players over 55 was won by Brian Voller also from the home club with an excellent nett 66. The team championship also went to the Shanklin and Sandown team comprising of Reed, Barnicoat, Foreman and Andy Westhorpe.

On Sunday the championship rounds commenced with Thompson playing Foreman in the first semi final and Reed playing Barnicoat in the second. Thompson took an early lead with a birdie at the 2nd and another at the 8th saw him 2 up at the turn. The match remained tight with holes being exchanged and a birdie by Foreman at the 16th brought the game back to 1 hole but when Thompson chipped dead at the 17th and Foreman’s putt lipped out the match was over 2&1. The second semi was shaped by a run of birdies on the front nine by Reed. He was leading by one hole when he birdies 3 holes in a row from the 7th to turn 4 up and put Barnicoat under the cosh. But 2 quick wins on the 10th and 11th brought him back into the match. Reed steadied and a further birdie at the 15th took him 3 clear again and he ran out 3&2 winner to set up the final against Thompson.

Also played in the Sunday morning is a stableford event (The Brabazon Trophy). This was won by Freshwater Bay’s Kevin Garrett (40 points), from Tony Williams and Bill Humphries who both scored 39.

The Championship final took place on Sunday afternoon, with the first notable action at the 2nd hole as Reed hold a birdie putt from 40 feet to see Thompson match him with his own 15 foot putt. Another birdie at the 3rd from Reed following an approach shot to about 6 feet saw him take the early lead. In strange contrast to the previous holes and indeed rounds, at the next both players missed birdie opportunities from inside 10 feet but the match went back to all square at the 5th hole as Thompson made Par as Reed missed the green. The final seemed to turn Reed’s way though as Thompson started to make some mistakes. A missed 3 foot putt at the 6th and a pulled drive on the 8th both gave away holes to Reed. Thompson then won a hole back at the 10th but 3 mistakes in a row effectively sealed the match in Reed’s favour as Thompson again missed a short putt at the 11th, hooked a drive at the 12th and 3 putted the 13th from long range. Reed, meanwhile, played steady fairway and greens golf to put himself in touching distance of the title at 4 up. The match concluded at the 15th as Thompson again found trouble from the tee and missed the green whilst Reed put his tee shot in the middle of the fairway and his approach shot to about 10 feet to seal the match by a score of 5&3

Photos of winners via following link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/101203776474378853640/IWGUChampionship2010?feat=directlink