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The match was against a long time friend and all-round nice guy Geoff Otene.
Geoff was the number one seed, I was the fifth seed. On paper I had a chance and just had to play well.
A little context. For the last two weeks I have been down with the flu. But not just any Flu, The MAN Flu. The one we whinge about more than most. Shivering for hours, short break then sweating like a pig. Having to change clothes a lot of times because the sweat stunk. Finally stopped on Thursday 11th giving me two days to recover for the match. I felt weak as a kitten.
Off to the course we go. (Me and the buggy). Unpack the buggy out of the car which was when I first felt how weak I still was. Assembled everything and was glad of the chance to sit on the Buggy and have a rest. Drive down to the starter and be marked off. Then I start shaking hands and talking to everyone around me. Geoff and I were last on the list to tee off of the Club Champ Matches, basically because I was supposed to have been starter for the day.
9.56am and we get on to the tee. Geoff tosses a coin I call tails and it is. I get to tee off first. My drive goes ok and just dribbles off the fairway and into the rough. Geoff tees off and hits it down the tree line, it will be interesting to see where he ends up. Off we go, chatting away, all through the match it was played in a friendly and enjoyable manner. We get to Geoffs ball and it was behind mine. He had clipped a tree which knocked the ball almost straight down. I sat on the buggy watching him weigh up his options. He made up his mind and chose the safe route chipping it 40-50 meters back into play which would allow him to have a long third short to the green. I moved up to my ball took out a 3-wood and hacked it out of the rough, down the fairway to about 100 meters from the green. Geoff play his third down to beside the green. I grabbed a wedge and chonked it to the front of the green. Me to play. Close enough to use my putter and hit a good one to about 1.2 meters from the hole. Geoff chonks his chip and it scuttles past the hole by three meters. Misses the return putt I give him whats left. My chance to win the opening hole. Step up hit the ball and leave it short. Halved in sixes.
2nd hole and I drive off with what looked like a good shot but it wasn't till we got to the green we found my ball was on the green. Geoff hit left, chipped short, missed his putt and in for four. I putt mine across the green to the pin an miss by a few centimeters. Geoff says thats good. One up.
3rd hole. My tee shot goes down the left and just into rough. Geoff hammers a good one right down to the bunker that guards the front of the green. I pull out a wedge and hit a good one onto the green. Geoff steps up and chonks his chip into the bunker in front of him. Curse word. Next shot straight into the face of the bunker. Two curse words. Next one comes out of the bunker and dribbles onto the green. He is still further away from the hole and putts first. Misses. My turn putting for birdie, misses. Very close and given for the win. Two up.
And that was it for me. The next ten holes I managed two halves and eight losses. One of the halves I should have won, a couple of the losses I might have halved to extend the match a few extra holes. But I was definitely on the losing side.
After the disaster on the third hole Geoff just seemed to flip a switch and his play became very nice to watch indeed. My play got worse. Chipping and putting are normally the core of my game but today not much went right.
Coming down the sixth hole we were walking into the wind in the sun, felt good. Then it clouded over and became quite bitter. I was glad I had had only six more holes of it to put up with. Later that day I had a relapse into my flu. It was very bad. For the next 18 hours I was a basket case. At times delirious. Marja has spent today reminding me of things I did that I have absolutely no memory of. It is thanks to Marja that I made it through that night.
Nigel and Geoff ready to do battle.
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