Magnolia 4BBB

We thought we would give the Pro’s a taste of what it would be like to play in The Masters at Augusta and walk up Magnolia Drive!

The nearest we could get to produce that experience was to play at the aptly named Magnolia Park Golf & Country Club, situated in Buckinghamshire just North of Oxford.
 
The 4 Ball Better Ball format is a one round shoot-out giving the players some relaxed early season practice with a chance of picking-up some funds to help with the rest of the season.

Following a weekend of pleasant weather, Monday’s start was cold and cloudy, with a brisk Easterly wind stroking the course and the players.

As one would expect, the scoring in a 4 Ball Better Ball format was going to be low and 3 groups came in to post 6 under par totals including former European Tour player Van Phillips and partner Max Newman.

Four groups slipped past them at 7 under par to finish in joint 5th place however it was the flowery pairing of Simon Lilly and Shane Rose who set the target at 9 under par which was made up of two consistent nines of 32 shots.

Lee Clarke and Mark Smith gave them a scare but just fell short posting an 8 under par total of 65.

Very, very late in the day, due to the exceptionally large field, Matt Morris and the guy with the best name in golf “Joe Smoothy” holed out in the gathering gloom to equal Lilly and Roses total of 9 under.

With a play off  not possible, given the format and dwindling light, the winners were decided by a card count back with Morris and Smoothy just clinching the title with a back nine of 31 compared with Lilly and Roses’ 32, each winning £1,000.

The course at Magnolia Park is a gem and the hospitality is second to none so please give yourselves a treat and go play it.

The next event at The Vale of Glamorgan on Tuesday / Wednesday the 27th-28th April is filling up fast so you need to get your entry in soon to make sure of your place.