The 17^th Lawle Guby Open was held on Sunday 13^th September 2015 at Ramsdale golf course. A field of 8 was the smallest field to participate in the Lawle Guby Open since 2006 when only 7 players turned up. Once again, Eddie promised much but couldn’t be bothered to get out of bed. Lance, the defending champion, teed off – hitting a shot of good length but to the left of the green. Mark found rough 100 yards and to the right of the tee, Andy hit a mediocre shot 50 yards short of the green and Robert found the front left of the green. Par for Robert would go well with his par on the next hole, where he just missed a birdie.  Setting a theme for the day, Andy produced a good recovery shot for a 4. Mark didn’t and recorded a sad 7, also a theme for his day, and Lance scored a solid 4. Robert Mayes, introduced to Lawle Guby golf for the first time and not quite believing what he was seeing, staggered to a 6 at the first and Ash and Alan both recorded a 4. Paul, or “Gibo” according to the scorecard I was handed, recorded what was to be one of his better scores that day – a 5. The third hole saw Ash and Andy (yes, not a misprint) both par the longest hole on the course. Alan scored what was to be his last score over 4 in the whole round, a 6. Shandy enjoyed the 3^rd  so much, he sent his tee shot at the 4^th hole back over the 3^rd green. Again though, he recovered with a 4. Lance recorded a 3 at the 4^th to begin a run of 10 holes where he scored 4 or less. Robert faltered with a 6 at the 5^th and Shandy had his first major setback with an 8 at the 6^th. In previous years, this would have derailed him. However, this year he seemed to be made of sterner stuff and responded by playing the next five holes in just 2 over par. Lance and Ash both birdied the 9^th, only the second and third players to do so in the history of the Open. Mark hit and incredible 10 at the same hole – I could spend the next 500 words describing it, but I won’t.

The halfway point probably saw only Ash, Alan, Andy and Lance left in contention for the title, with the two Roberts relying on a collapse from the players in front. Mark and Paul were realistically only fighting for the Wooden Spoon by this stage. Shandy opened the back 9 with a couple of pars before blowing up in spectacular fashion with a 7 at the 12^th, although from the position he found himself under low trees on the left after Robert helpfully insisted on finding his ball for him this was actually a good recovery. Lance was gradually reeling Andy in, having narrowed the gap to just 4 shots as they approached the short 14^th. As his tee shot sailed to within a few feet of the hole, he must have been feeling confident of maintaining the pressure. However, to his horror it was revealed that he had taken his shot from outside the tee-box, ordinarily a two shot penalty and a retaken tee-shot. His playing partners graciously agreed to waive the two shot penalty but insisted that he retake his tee-shot from the correct position. A clearly rattled Lance proceeded to punch a topped shot through the back of the green, checking the rules of golf on his phone as he grumbled his way towards it. Clearly distracted, he chipped back though the green and scored a 5, while a gleeful Andy bagged a 3. In fact, Lance Alan and Mark were the only players not to score par – Robert M sneaking inside Robert R’s shot to grab the Closest to the Pin prize. Lance rallied with a long putt for par at the next hole to again close to within four shots of Shandy, which was greeted with absolute silence by his playing partners. This again seemed to rattle Lance and he faded from contention with a couple of 5’s over the closing holes. Robert R managed to string 3 pars in a row over 14, 15 and 16 but it was too late. Ash grabbed his second birdie at the 16^th and Paul hit a record equalling 11 at the same hole. Andy faltered slightly with a 5 at the last, but his victory was secured by then and he had won with his best ever score at the Open, also becoming the first player to win the Open twice in addition to two Wooden Spoons. Alan won the Gross Score trophy and Paul won the Wooden Spoon, despite Mark mistakenly taking it home.