IGC Club Championship 2016
Congratulations to Mark St Amour, the winner of this year’s Club Championship.
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For the first time since 2009, IGC has a new Club Champion. Mark St Amour came from three behind after the first round to take the championship by two strokes. | |
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Last year’s Ladies and Seniors champions: Beate Reimann and Richard Ginder are once again champions. Congratulations to both! |
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As last year, the championship was played at Empereur and Pierpont although a little later in the calendar. Sunday’s round at Pierpont this year avoided car-free Sunday though some might have encountered delays on the way home on the Sunday of the Brussels marathon.
On Saturday at Empereur — after coffee & croissants — groups headed off more or less in handicap order, with some allowances on the first day for those expressing a preferred tee-time. Best round of the day for the men was Richard Ginder on 75, followed by David Bowen on 77 and Mark St Amour on 78. For the Ladies, Beate Reimann’s 86 gave her a 4-shot lead over Suzanne Butler going into the second day, with Saskia van Oldenborgh a couple of shots further back.
On day one, no Seniors leader could be clearly identified since it would all depend on whether a senior won the overall championship!
In terms of net scores, there were 9 of the 27 with scores equal to or less than net par, notably Richard Ginder’s net 66, Mark St Amour on 67 and Debbie Wright on 68.
After more coffee and croissants at Pierpont on Sunday morning, players went off in reverse order of standings, with the leaders teeing off last. Pierpont was to prove the more difficult challenge, with scores on average four strokes higher than the first day.
Does it always comes down to the last hole? So it was for IGC’s Club Championship even if Mark St Amour did have a relatively comfortable lead as he teed off at the 18th. Mark was the only player on day 2 to beat par with his net score of 71 and his gross of 80 gave him a 36-hole total of 158. David Bowen was runner-up on 162.
Beate Reimann was relatively comfortable on day 2 coming home with a 3-shot gap over second place Saskia van Oldenborgh for a 36-hole total of 177. Saskia and Suzanne Butler were tied for second place overall in the ladies, with Saskia winning on the best second round.
Richard Ginder’s gross 160 saw him take second place overall for the Men but his senior status saw him retain the Seniors Championship, ahead of Per Ake Aidemark on 163.
Beyond all the gross prizes, we also had net winners over 36 holes: Andrew Sisk with 145 for the men, and Debbie Wright on 146 for the ladies. And beyond all the 36-holes prizes, Frédéric Marsan took both the Saturday and Sunday Stableford prize for the low handicappers (37 and 32 points), Gavin Watt took the low handicap prize on Saturday (38 points) and Mark Adams on Sunday (32).