Legend has it that St. George never visited England – nor was he or his horse present on the first tee at Campoamor for La Siesta’s annual St. George’s Day competition. That said, there was a full house of golfers to celebrate the day. The weather was kind again and the scene was one of patriots decked out in red and white, joined by friends from afar, including one guest from Norway. The course is really good at the moment and is attracting a lot of players so the day was never going to be a quick one. With this creating a relaxed atmosphere we were off.

Some little tweaks were made to handicaps to change the format slightly in the hope that this would produce a closer competition. Our resident David Baily (aka Michael Edwards) was on the first tee to snap the fourballs before the off. Being Irish it wasn’t really a celebration for him – but he was a good sport and donned the red and white as requested. As expected, the play was a little slow, but, as we know, a day in the sunshine makes up for that.

As the competition progressed, it was clear that the handicapping was having a positive effect. Looking at the scores at the halfway stage, it was all to play for. The back nine continues to test even the best golfers and so it proved once again. If the committee wanted to make it tight they certainly succeeded. At the end of the day, 4 players on 37 points – Roy Brown (5th), John Pritlove (4th), Rosalind Smith (3rd) and George Cumming (2nd). Pipping them all with 38 points and taking the St. George’s Day trophy was Ben Hines.

As always, it was back to the clubhouse for the evening meal and presentation. Great food, great company and great entertainment from Chloe Leigh. One more successful day.

Michael Edwards