Scott Meek. Picture by Ashley Vaughan.
PICTURE GALLERY
GOLF
SCOTT Meek is the new IW Golf Union champion after an excellent and dramatic weekend at Freshwater Bay Golf Club.
The Osborne player, who had finished third after the first 36 holes of play on the Saturday, defeated fellow Osborne player Darren Masterton in a thrilling play-off and reversing the 2011 result.
Scott didn’t get the best of starts when he three-putted the third to go one down in the matchplay contest. But birdies on the fourth and fifth holes put him into the lead.
Darren then lost a ball from his drive on the sixth, but then a birdie, followed by a brilliant 30ft putt for eagle at the eighth, put him all square.
On the ninth, Darren drove 340 yards to go around 12 foot from the hole, but he three-putted to leave the match tied, before he dropped behind again when he lost the ball on the tenth.
Scott birdied the 111th, but three consecutive bogeys to Darren’s par golf put the match back in his favour once again. The game continued to twist and turn and by the 18th they still could not be separated.
But on the first play-off hole, Scott putted out to take the title.
Scott had defeated Freshwater’s Derek Wright in the matchplay semi-final, with a brilliant eagle on the 13th helping him to a 3&2 victory, while Darren had knocked out another Freshwater player, Brandon Thompson, in another play-off.
Both matches had seen golf of the highest quality, despite breezy conditions which made life difficult for the players.
On Saturday, more than 40 players took to the fairways for two rounds of golf and the gusty winds made life hard, with only eight players scoring under 80 after the first 18 holes.
Brandon coped brilliantly and led at the end of the day with a gross 144, two ahead of Derek and Scott, and four ahead of Darren, to earn him the Haworth Cup.
Matt Barnicoat would have taken the final qualifying place, but signed an incorrect card, and was disqualified for the error.
The handicap event, for the Goodall Challenge Cup, was won by Derek, with an excellent nett score of 136. Coming close to an historic victory in second was 14-year-old George Faulkner, who carded nett 138 — including a gross 73 in the afternoon — with Kevin Garrett third, on 142.
Derek also took home the Vice President’s Cup for the best 18-hole nett score in the morning, with nett 69.
The Capel Morris Cup, for players aged over 55, over 18 holes, was won Freshwater’s Bill Hinchen, with a nett 71. Freshwater also won the team event.
Martin Goodall, of the IW Golf Union, said: "It has been an absolutely fantastic weekend of golf, and the semi-finals were the best we’ve seen in a long time.
"I really felt for Matt Barnicoat. He went out of bounds down the last and carded a seven, when it should have been an eight. He and his marker came forward and he had to be disqualified, which was a shame, but congratulations to him for taking it so well.
"All these competitions count towards the IW team for the Island Games. There are three competitions left so I hope he comes back."
Scott currently leads the rankings for the IW team, with Derek, Darren, Brandon, Matt and George Foreman all in contention.
Reporter: sport@iwcpmail.co.uk
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