IWGU Championship 2011

The annual IOW golf championship has been played this weekend at Freshwater Golf Club. During the stroke play rounds on Saturday the best morning scores came from the host club's Derek Wright and Osborne's Scott Meek who both recorded level par 69's. Just behind them Darren Masterton from Shanklin & Sandown shot 71 with four more players scoring 72. In the afternoon round both Meek and Wright who were playing together swapped the overall lead back and forth but in the end Meek recorded a 71 (total 140) to Wright's 72 (141) to claim the Haworth Challenge Cup. In third place Masterton also recorded a 72 (143). Freshwater's Kasey Tuckey who had been one of the morning 72 scores recorded a 74 in the afternoon (total 146) and was in the clubhouse looking to get into the top four for the first time until Tony Williams (Shanklin) came in with a 71 to go with his morning 74 (total 145) to get into the final four by a single shot. William's nett score of 135 was enough to win the Goodall Challenge Cup for the best 36 hole handicap. The Vice Presidents Cup for the best nett 18 hole score went to Wright with his morning nett 66, winning on Countback from Roy Truman who took the Capel Morris Trophy for the over 55's.
Sunday's stableford competition for the Brabazon trophy was won for the second year running by Freshwater's Kev Garrett.
The Island Championship is decided on Sunday from the four highest players in the Haworth Cup playing matchplay to decide the winner. In the first Semi Final Meek played Williams and in a very tight match Meek reached the turn 1up. But 3 exchanged holes later the match was all square where it remained until Williams took the lead on the 16th Hole. Meek responded brilliantly to claim the final two holes and the match by 1up.
In the second semi-final Wright took an early lead and turned that into 3 holes at the turn but Masterton turned things around with wins at 5 consecutive holes as the players battles back against a very strong wind. Wright birdies 16 to bring the match back to one hole but at the 17th a par from Masterton was enough to take the match 2&1.
The final started steadily enough as both recorded opening Pars. A mistake at the third by Meek allowed Masterton to lead and he doubled that advantage with a birdie at the 4th. Meek however made an excellent birdie 2 at the 5th and a mistake by Masterton at the next put the match back to all square. Masterton made light work of the 9th with another birdie to turn at 1up. Both players seemed to be coming to grips with the strong wind but Meek overcame the problems he had in his morning match at the start of the back nine with 3 pars being enough to take him into a 2 hole lead. Maserton was not to be outdone and reeled off 4 consecutive wins of his own to take his lead back to 2 holes with just two remaining. Both players missed the green at 17 but an excellent par saving put from Meek took the match to the final hole. The strong wind caused both players to pull shots left of the fairway before they reached the edge of the green in 3. Meek got up and down leaving Masterton to hole from about 4 feet to secure his second IWGU Championship.

Photos from the final and presentation are available at: https://picasaweb.google.com/101203776474378853640/Champs2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCKXH2KHpz9bkfA#