Round of 16. Tony David Bronze plate. Match against Craig Davies, 24/06/2013.

I am playing a LOT of golf lately, Massive thanks to Clare for tolerating it!

Finished work at 6, bombed straight to the Coed for a quick warm up before our agreed tee time of 1830. Craig arrived at the same time as me and we had a quick chip and putt together before heading to the first tee, shaking hands and hitting our drives into trouble, followed by a provisional each. Not the perfect start by any stretch. The search for Craig’s ball on the left proved fruitless and I found mine on the right and needed a penalty drop to be able to play it. My approach to the green was a great settler. A 6iron onto the green leading to a win on the first hole.

Our match was a pretty high-quality game with some outstanding golf from both of us (also some quite poor golf each) with alternate holes being won most of the way through our match. Our first halved hole was the 8^th and we were standing on the 12^th tee all square wondering who was going to take the bull by the horns. Craig sprayed his drive into the hedge behind the 11^th and I calmly knocked my drive down the middle …… IN MY MIND!! I pull-hooked left into the long deep stuff. What a Drongo! Both our provisional balls went right so we traipsed towards the 13^th fairway. Craig found his first ball right next to his provisional so was able to play his second shot as a chip out through the trees. My 4^th shot was a swipe with my 3wood hoping that I could get enough height (13.5 deg loft and a very stiff shaft!) to clear a tree and get to the green or just short. I managed to find the tree and escape through the other side to land on the fairway about 70 yards short of the green. Craig had a bit of a shocker, you might even call it a tree knocker, which ended in a lost ball and a concession. That hole wasn’t the golf that dreams are made of for either of us.

We had our second halved hole on the 13^th after some eventful army-golf ending in a bogey 6 each. I managed to win 14 and 15 to be 3up with 3 to play standing on the 16^th tee. I’ve never played that hole as well as I did on Monday night and birdied it to win the match 4 & 2.

Thanks for a great match Craig! Looking forward to meeting either Jerry or Kevin in the quarter finals!!