Trilby triumphs over the Panama at Goodwood
For over a century, Goodwood has been synonymous with the Panama but for one day last week, the Trilby was the headgear of choice when 120 amateur golfers took part in the Trilby Tour at Golf At Goodwood on Thursday 21st July.
From the moment the first tee shot was struck at 7am the players faced an anxious wait on the first tee before starting their rounds. Their nerves were not helped by the starter announcing each group, building the tension, reminiscent of a full European tour event. It was noticeable that grown men became nervous and all of a sudden the prospect of hitting a golf ball became more and more difficult.
The target for each player was to finish in the top 10 to progress through to the Trilby Tour final which will be held at the Buckingham Club on 11th August. The top four from the day would play off for the title of Sussex Champion.
It was clear that the ¾ handicap stableford format coupled with the difficult Downs course was going to make scoring difficult and by the time the first few groups passed through the turn it was clear 30 points would be a good score.
There was one exception to this in Andy Jones, an 8 handicap Trilby veteran who scored a fabulous 21 points on the front 9 and finished with 36 points quite early in the day to set the mark which looked unlikely to be beaten. Many of the players struggled to come to terms with the course and this was reflected in the scores.
Alec Stoner and Darren Burton came in with 33 and 34 points respectively and looked assured of a top 4 spot. The pressure was certainly on Chris Dyson, the defending Trilby Champion who was playing his home course. The pressure was certainly added to by Trilby Tour founder, William Hunt who proceeded to introduce Chris as the ‘Ice Man’ throughout the build up to his tee time. Chris responded with 18 points on the front 9 and despite the heavens opening over his last 3 holes Chris finished with a very respectable 33 points.
Seven players tied on 30 points and took part in a nearest the pin shoot out to progress through to the final. This then left the 3 hole play off between Chris Dyson, Alec Stoner, Andy Jones and Darren Burton to determine the champion of Sussex. In a tight play off Dyson and Jones finished +2 and Stoner and Burton both holed good puts on the last to finish +1 which meant a sudden death hole which Darren Burton won after holing a tricky 6 foot putt. Darkness was drawing in as Darren received his trophy from William Hunt after a fabulous event at Golf At Goodwood.’