Jamie's blog: How I defended the Brownlee Cup

On the 30th April 2011 the first qualifying round of two was held for the 2011 Brownlee Cup. The format for the 2011 Brownlee Cup was two rounds of qualifying on Nett, one on Saturday 30th April and the other on the Saturday 4th June. With the best Nett of the two rounds being you’re qualifying score. Then there were five rounds of match play (Meaning only 32 players qualified) starting on Saturday 18th June and the final was scheduled for Saturday 23rd July.

In the first round I scored 78 off my 6 handicap and retuned a 72 nett and was right on the cut off point in 32nd position. The second round (Saturday 4th June) I chose not to play because it rained all day. Only 10 players played and it was decided by the Match Committee there would be a third qualifying round the following Saturday (11th June). I scored a 77 off my 9 handicap and returned a 68 nett and qualified Mid Field.

So to the first round that was scheduled for the Saturday 18th June. My Opponent in the first round was Kane Lucas. He was on a 5 handicap and I was on a 9 handicap so I received 4 strokes from him. We decided by mutual agreement to play our match on Sunday 19th June because it rained all day on Saturday when it was scheduled to be played. I won the first hole with a birdie 2 to go 1up, won the third hole with a par 4 to go 2up, and the fourth hole with par 4 to go 3up. I lost the fifth hole to a par to go back to 2up, won the sixth hole with a birdie to go back to 3up. Lost the seventh hole to a par 4 to back to 2up, won the 8th hole with a par 3 to go back to 3up and we halved the ninth hole. I turned 3up. I won the tenth hole with a par 3 to go to 4up. We halved the eleventh and twelfth holes so I was 4up with 6 holes to play. I won the thirteenth hole with a par 4 and I was now dormie with 5 holes up with 5 holes to play. I lost the fourteenth hole to a par 3 and went back to 4 up. But won the fifteenth hole with a birdie 4 to win the match 4&3 and advance to the second round on Saturday 2nd July.

So to the second round and my opponent was Stu Blok. It was played on a lovely Sunny Saturday afternoon (2nd July) in bright winter sun shine. I was on a 9 handicap and Stu was on an 11 handicap so I gave him 2 strokes. I won the first hole with a par 3 to go 1up, the fifth hole with a par 4 to go 2up, lost the seventh hole when I made a double bogey 6. And I also lost the eighth hole when I made a bogey 4. So we were all square after 8 holes. I won the ninth hole with a par 5 to turn 1up. Then won the tenth hole with a par 3 to go 2up, the eleventh hole with a par 4 to go 3up, we halved the twelfth hole with par 4’s so I was still 3up with 6 holes to play. I won the thirteenth with a par 4 to go 4up. We both made par 3’s on the fourteenth hole for a half. I was now dormie 4up with 4 holes to play. I won the fifteenth hole with a birdie 4 and won the match 5&3 to advance to the Quarter Finals on Saturday 9th July.

So to the quarter finals and my opponent was Geoff Sainty. I was on an 8 handicap and Geoff was on a 22 handicap so I had to give him 14 strokes. I knew this match would be my hardest as I was giving away the most strokes of all the games I played. It had been an extremely wet week and on Saturday 9th July the course was boarder line to be closed. But the Green keeper (John Trim) decided to leave it open. We halved holes One and Two; I won the third when Geoff conceded to me so I went to 1up. I won the fourth hole with a par to go 2up and the fifth with a Par 4 to go 3up. Lost the sixth hole when I made a bogey 5. I was back to only 2up. Also lost the Seventh hole when I made bogey 5 and I was now only 1up. Won the ninth hole with a par 5 and that meant I turned 2up. Lost the tenth hole when I scored a bogey 4 and was now only 1up. Won the eleventh hole when Geoff conceded to me so I went back to 2up. Lost the twelfth hole with a bogey to go back to 1up and also lost the thirteen hole with a bogey to be all square. We halved the fourteenth hole when I made a par 3. I won the fifteenth hole with a Par 5 to go 1up. We halved the sixteenth hole when I made a bogey. When I sank my 7 foot par putt on the seventeenth hole I had won the match 2&1 and had advanced the Semi – Final on Saturday 16th July.

So to the Semi – Final, and again it had been a really wet week leading up to it. This was the closest match I had out of the 5. I was playing Gordon Lindsay, he was on 14 handicap and I was on an 8 handicap so I had to give him 6 strokes. I won the first hole with a par 3 to go 1up, and the third hole with a Par 4 to go 2up. Lost the sixth hole when I made a bogey 5 and went back to 1up. I lost the eighth hole when I made a bogey 5 to bring the match back to All Square. I won the ninth hole with a Par 5 to turn 1up. Lost the tenth hole with a bogey 4 and the 11th hole with a bogey 5 to go 1down for the first time in the match. I won the 12th hole with a par 4 to get back to all square with 6 holes to play. We halved the next 5 holes (13th to 17th), so we came to the eighteen hole all square. We both hit good tee shots. I played my second shot first with a seven iron and landed it on the green 15 feet below the hole. Gordon then left his second shot just short of the green in the rough. Gordon played a good third shot chip leaving it about 3 feet below the cup. So now I knew what I had to do and that was hole my 15 foot birdie putt to win the match and advance to my second Brownlee Cup Final. And that is exactly what I did! I won this extremely close match 1up.

So to the final of the Brownlee Cup for 2011. It was scheduled to be played on Saturday 23rd July but the Heavy Winter Rains caused the course to be closed. My opponent in the final was Gary Webber. Under Mutual agreement we agreed to play the final on Sunday 31st July because fine weather was predicted for that day. So, Sunday 31st July dawned a lovely sunny clear winter’s day. We teed off in the final just after 12 noon. I was on an 8 handicap and Gary was on a 12 handicap so I had to give him 4 strokes. I won the first hole with a par 3 to go 1up. I won the second hole when Gary conceded to me so I went to 2up. We halved the third and fourth holes. I won the fifth hole with a birdie 3 to go 3up. Won the sixth hole with a birdie 3 to go 4up. We halved the seventh hole when I made a bogey 5. I won the eighth hole with a par 3 to go 5up and also won the ninth hole with a Par 5 to go 6up after the front nine holes. Out of the five games I won to win the Brownlee Cup for 2011, the front nine holes of the final was the best nine holes I played with scoring 34 one under par. I lost the tenth with a bogey to back to 5up. Lost the eleventh hole with a double bogey to go back to 4up. Lost the twelfth hole with a bogey to go back to 3up. I won the thirteenth hole with a par 4 to get back to 4up. We halved the fourteenth hole with bogey 4’s so I was now dormie 4up with 4 holes to play. I won the fifteenth hole with a Par 5 to win the match 5&3 and win the Brownlee Cup for 2011 and I also became the first player to defend the Brownlee Cup in 57 years. The last player to defend the Brownlee Cup was G. A. Poulgrain in 1954.