With the golf course presented beautifully and the greens running true and quick scoring was going to have to be at a premium to strike gold in the May Monthly Challenge.
The Gross Division of the event has seen Rob Kennedy claim his maiden Individual title at Tower Links with a blistering score of 76, and what makes his feat even more creditable is that he started with a triple bogey 7.
Testament to his mental fortitude and self belief, the wiry Irishman dug deep to birdie the very next hole, but another bogey on the short 3rd hole meant he was going to have to call on all his skills to keep his round from slipping away from him.
Kennedy righted himself to score 6 straight pars to sign out in 39 and from there the tenacious Paddy kept firing on all cylinders. Another birdie on the tough 13th was offset by only his second bogey of the inward nine on the 15th hole, but as he had done all day Kennedy rose to the challenge.
Whilst not long, the 3 hole inward stretch of 16 – 18 is fraught with danger, as an errant tee shot is sure to find the lateral hazards that flank the narrow fairways. Kennedy navigated these narrow fairways with precision and was able to par the final three holes and sign off for an extremely impressive 76 and that very important confident boosting win.
Current Club Champion Dr. Jey and Mohamed Abdel Fattah tied on 78 gross and needed a count back to determine their final placing, with the favor falling the way of Dr. Jey courtesy of his lower score on the inward nine.
The Net Division has seen Michelle Lim overcome a shoulder Injury that had sidelined her for a couple of weeks to claim the spoils with a very impressive 68 net.
The attributes that everyone admires in Michelle’s game is her very accurate driving and iron play, with the only chink in her impenetrable armor being that with the flat stick, which incidentally is something that she rarely practices.
Michelle nearly mirrored both her nines but some sloppy shot choices around the greens on the back nine meant that she came home in 48 as opposed to the 45 strokes she went out in.
Once Michelle tightens up the few loose shots that are holding her back, there is no doubt she will decimate the fields she plays in with relentless regularity as there is no one more committed in the Club to game improvement.
Second in the net division on the day was Ahmad Mustapha who will look back to holes 16 and 17 as his undoing as he played them in a total of 3 over par to leave him only 2 shots from the title win on net 70.
Faddy Azzam rounded out the top 3 contenders on a net of 72 and will look back to the outward nine of doing the damage to his confidence and scorecard, but Fady is in a rich vein of form so a win is beckoning in the not too distant future.