The final push...

Last Monday Alex and I played at Ogbourne Downs Golf Club a course we both had never played, however,  we found the course in great condition, very dry and the greens were rolling at a very good speed for the time of year, but with 30-40mph winds a good score was not a given. Playing the course once would have helped as there were a lot of blind shots so local knowledge was definitely valuable.

As you are all aware, leading up to this round Alex and I are still very close in the OOM and with 2nd place being the goal for both of us, this round was very important. After 9 holes Alex had the lead on me by 1 shot as I was at +3 and Alex was at +2.

In really tough conditions these were good scores, and I followed up with a solid back 9 to finish with a total of 74, +3. Alex, on the other hand, did not fare so well, starting the back 9 with 2 pars followed by 5 bogeys in a row really hurting his score and he eventually signed for a really disappointing 79 +8.

This result means that I stay at 2nd in the OOM but Alex now moved down to 4th with Andy Windsor now being my closest rival. With 2 rounds to go so Alex has nothing to lose now, he’s going for 2 wins in a row for a final push to secure 2nd place. On the other hand, I just need to play steady golf like I usually do and that should be good enough for me to qualify for the Dorset Inter County Team for a 6th year in a row.