Singletons

Back in October, the winter league singles competition began with eighty seven entrants. Months of freezing fingers and icicled extremities later and fourteen players remain with a realistic chance of qualification for the grand final. Four players will earn their place provided they’ve completed the minimum ten rounds, most of the front runners have accomplished this but a sprinkling of challengers are coming up on the rails so there’s still plenty to play for.

At the risk of embarrassing myself with elementary arithmetic miscalculation, the contenders are as follows, their average stableford scores are alongside.

S McGhie             39

IP Smith               37

S Hutcheon         37*

G Docherty         36

A Darragh           36

C Nicol                  36*

M Ritchie             35

D Hepburn          35

AD Smith             35

J Nowak               35

K Gordon             35

G Forrester         34

J Christie              34

P McRobb           34*

*not completed ten rounds yet

Another thirteen players can still complete the requisite ten rounds in time but I’m not wasting space naming them, they’re toast. I’ll eat my hat if the four qualifiers don’t come from the list above. Indeed I’ll play the gully in a leopardskin thong using a plastic cricket bat and a medicine ball. In the Winter. No offence chaps but Rory couldn’t drag it back from here, you’re better off staying at home to watch Grandstand or clean the motor.

No competition is complete without its' also rans. Mention must be made of the hapless couple of dozen who bailed from the tournament having completed no more than two of the minimum ten rounds. The winter league seemed a good idea at the time didn’t it gentlemen? That’s until you realised it meant rolling out of bed in sub-zero temperatures to thin so many iron shots that you couldn’t feel your fingers anymore. Prize to the most random entrant, who will remain nameless, goes to the fellow who waited until week 8 to make his debut and promptly called it quits right there, after one solitary round. As object lessons in futility go this rivals my attempt to climb Ben Mohr in January wearing plimsolls.

To all singles competitors I wish you good luck. It goes without saying that had I entered myself the tournament would effectively have only three places to play for but you have Keith Douglas to thank for dragging me away to the doubles. Partnering Douglas hasn’t come without its travails and my back is shot to pieces having had to carry him around the course all winter. Remind me to play the singles or take up snooker next year.

The grand final is on March 19^th with the four qualifiers adding their points tally on that day to the average points tally accumulated during the winter. S McGhie is sitting pretty but as we all know, a couple of lucy lockets and a dose of the yips and it can all change. It’s still there for the taking, but don’t make me dig out that thong.