The dire forecast of heavy rain caused many water-averse members to call off the visit to El Valle. Of the 48 names on the original start sheet, only 27 members and four guests teed off. It would be fair to say that some quickly lamented their decision to play in the sodden conditions. Of the 31 who started, only 19 completed their rounds.

Waterproofs, attire not usually required in this arid zone, were the order of the day. The deluge only halted when most had finished their round. With the wet grips on clubs spookily resembling the texture of a slippery salmon, scoring was on the low side with Colin Rust’s winning tally of 33 on CB topping the day’s efforts. Due to the depleted number of participants, the normal categories of gold, silver and bronze winners were washed away and replaced by a single group of overall winners.

Despite holing from off the 17th green, Hugh Reilly was the well-deserved winner of this week’s Abacus prize, a bottle of red wine to drown his sorrows.

Our thanks to the staff at El Valle for their understanding and contribution to the day.

The day’s results, by category and in reverse order, were the following:

Gold Division

4th Place Mike Kaylor 29 points

3rd Place Jackie Rust 33 points

2nd Place Robin Eastman 33 points (CB)

1st  Place Colin Rust 33 points (CB)

 Nearys

Hole 6 Noel Bannon

Hole 9 Ken Flaherty

Hole 12 Carmel McCann

Hole 15 Mike Inns

 Abacus Hugh Reilly

 31 starters inc 4 guests

19 completed rounds.

Keep up to date with all SMGS matters by logging on to our website www.smgs.org or simply give Tony Smale a call on 628227687 to find out more about the society and its weekly golf get-togethers. Next week we will be at Bonalba.