The Gentleman's Open : GO 2009 G.O. 2009

The Gentlemen’s Open headed south west for its ninth staging, making base at a large house overlooking the UK’s premier surfing waters, Fistral Beach in Newquay.

It was a steady start to proceedings on the Sunday following the late arrival of messrs McGregor and Fletcher, and the day was predominantly spent chillaxing as an exciting British Open came to its climax several hundred miles north of Newquay. It was also agreed that the format should be shaken up, with the opening round of the GO proper to be moved ahead of the Captain’s Cup.

Monday, 20th July: G.O. Round 1, St Mellion Golf Club, Nicklaus Course

A forced late start to the first round of the GO was needed, as arrangements had to be made to replace the written off BMW X5 with the more powerful Chevrolet Matiz.

For the third consecutive year it was James “Jimmy B” Buffoni who struck the opening tee shot on what has been rated by some as the UK’s second hardest golf course. The track lived up to its reputation as each hole provided a tight, mature tree lined test giving plenty for the players to think about. Predictably, it was those who were consistently straight who fared best and by the end of the day it was the hugely improved John Roberts who co-led with Sam Fletcher, who had dragged himself back into contention with a battling back line. Defending champion Ben McGregor finished the day lurking menacingly one point behind, whilst Nick Turner, Dominic Reeve and Cameron Christie had all done enough to remain in contention. However, with the GO reduced to three rounds it appeared that the stableford scores in the teens recorded by Jimmy B and three time champion Ben Collard had already given them too much ground to make up on the field.

Tuesday, 21st July

Captain’s Cup Round 1, Perranporth GC

It was the unwelcome sound of howling wind and driving rain which greeted the boys on Tuesday morning - a combination which made the prospect of the first links course of the week particularly unedifying. Some of the edge was taken off the conditions by the warm welcome and complimentary bacon sandwiches awaiting the competitors on arrival at the pleasant Perranporth clubhouse.

Based on the form on the previous day, it always seemed likely that Dominic Reeve and Cameron Christie would have their work cut out against the pair of co-leaders, Sam Fletcher and John Roberts, and so it was that Team Roberts ran out relatively comfortable 3 & 2 winners, despite determined opposition.

It was a very different story in match two as Collard and Turner ran into a five hole lead after just six holes and looked set to inflict a huge defeat on the Buffoni-McGregor partnership. That was until a predominantly McGregor inspired fight back made light of the pair’s inauspicious start and incredibly battled back to secure half a point with a McGregor par at the 18th.

Captain’s Cup Round 2, Newquay GC

The competition made the short, unscheduled trip to the seemingly wide open Newquay Golf Club for the second round of the Captain’s Cup, which also heralded a new format in the shape of foursomes. The relaxed atmosphere and official introduction of alcohol to a GO round for the first time certainly seemed to suit Buffoni and Roberts who made light work of the Turner and Reeve combination, despite some good ball striking from Reeve.

In the second match, two of the strong favourites for the main prize, McGregor and Fletcher secured a resounding victory for the favoured team Roberts, their round including back-to-back birdies which sent an ominous message to the rest of the players for the week ahead.

CAPTAIN’S CUP OVERALL RESULT: TEAM ROBERTS 3.5 vs TEAM COLLARD 0.5

Thursday 23rd July: G.O. Round 2, St Enodoc GC (Church Course)

After a restful day off for most (notable exceptions being the body boarding Collard and Fletcher), it was off to the highly rated St Enodoc in exclusive Rock for the second round of the Gentlemen’s Open proper.

Despite being the hottest day of the week, the wind was still strong and making life difficult from the first onwards. John Roberts was the early pace-setter, sensationally chipping in on holes one and three to open up a gap at the top of the leaderboard although the wind was eventually to play a part in eroding and eventually over turning that advantage. Roberts’ slip from the top was primarily due to the excellent form of Ben McGregor though, who opened up a seven point lead over Roberts and the determined Fletcher, whose iron play and holing out in the difficult conditions was something to behold.

Elsewhere in the competition, it was shaping up nicely for the tussle for second place as Christie and Reeve lurked just a couple of points behind Fletcher and Roberts. Meanwhile, Turner endured a disastrous back nine in the wind to drop back to sixth place whilst Collard and Buffoni continued to have a GO to forget at the very back of the field.

Friday 24th July: G.O. Final Round, Trevose GC (Championship Course)

The week had taken its toll on the steadily ageing bodies of the men of the GO and there were a few in the competition who greeted the last round of golf with an element of relief. Amongst these were Buffoni and Collard who had both struggled with their games throughout and realistically only had pride to play for on the pleasant championship course at Trevose.

The real action was always going to be in the fight for the minor prizes as Ben McGregor delivered a masterpiece in front running to romp to an historic defence of the coveted GO title. Sam Fletcher displayed steel to hole a snaking putt on the eighteenth which meant that Cameron Christie had to be content with a credible third place, John Roberts having failed to stem the decline in his game which had started the previous day.

In the last group, both Nick Turner and Ben Collard played respectably, the former ultimately just falling a couple of points short of the prize money and the latter ensuring that Jimmy B had to suffer the indignity of propping up the filed, although two points on each of the last two holes did at least spare the man from the north the blushes of taking T Stern’s unwanted record of least stableford points accumulated in a GO round.

GO number nine was another spectacular success, being capped off in suitable style with a great dinner at Jamie Oliver’s stunningly set Fifteen restaurant. The tournament fittingly belonged to one man, Benjamin McGregor, and the question now is, can anyone step up and prevent him from completing a hat-trick of victories at the tenth holding of the event?

Thanks as always to all the drivers, who did a sterling job, and of course to the organiser, Ben McGregor…