The 2006 Gritters Tour

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The 2007 Tour Review:

THIS YEAR'S MOVIE: 2007 Gritters Highlights

Eight rounds of golf altogether, best five to count on an eclectic

The 2007 tour started in what has now become a traditional way with a quick get together a couple of weeks beforehand. So, in late April we all trooped off to Willesley Park near Ashby de la Zouch.

Round One: WILLESLEY PARK
1	T.C.	39
2	HARRY	35
3	IAN	34
4	SHORT STUFF	32
5	CASH TILL	32
6	PORKY	28
7	JOHN MAYERS	28
8	COCK	25


T.C. had a fabulous opening round of 39 points that contained two 4 pointers and five 3 pointers. By far his best start for years. Will he be able to keep it up? The picture shows him being really helpful moving Short Stuff bag on the long twelfth.. So for 2007 we had the normal preamble, a round in England before catching the ferry and six rounds in France. This year though because of the distances involved we decided to get the overnight boat back. There are EIGHT rounds of golf played altogether. The competition is an eclectic based upon the best FIVE scores from EIGHT. Each round is played as an individual stableford, but on a master score card all your rounds are recorded. Over the course of the tour, you have 8 attempts at the first hole, 5 of these will count, 8 attempts at the 2nd hole, 5 of these will count and so on. Thus the par for each hole is 10 points.
Then, two weeks later, the tour proper began, with a round in the UK before catching the boat. This year we treated ourselves to a return game at an old favourite, Stoneham.

	Game Two of Eight: Stoneham
1.	Ian	42
2.	Tippy	40
3.	Cash Till	37
4.	Porky	34
5.	Harry	32
6.	TC	26
7.	Short Stuff	23
8.	Cock	22

We left Stoneham after a thoroughly enjoyable round and headed south to the ferry.

Then we had a night on the boat from Portsmouth to St Malo, spent mainly in the piano bar.

Round Three of Eight: La Baule Tired and emotional though looking forward to some great company and golf, we got off the ferry and, after a quick coffee at L'Univers, headed south, through Rennes and onward to La Baule. We checked into The Majestic Hotel on the seafront and, pausing only for coffee, set off immediately for La Baule. The results for the round are below.
1	John	35
2	TC	34
3	Cash Till	34
4	Porky	33
5	Short Stuff	31
6	Ian	30
7	Cock	29
8	Harry	28

Round Four of Eight: St Jean De Monts

1	Ian	31
2	Cash Till	29
3	Cock	29
4	Tippy	28
5	Porky	28
6	TC	27
7	Harry	25
8	Short Stuff	13

Round Five of Eight: Savenay

1	Ian	39
2	Cash Till	37
3	Short Stuff	37
4	T.C.	36
5	Tippy	30
6	Harry	28
7	Porky	26
8	Cock	25

Round Six of Eight: La Bretesche near Missillac

1	Tippy	35
2	Short Stuff	33
3	T.C.	31
4	Cash Till	31
5	Porky	27
6	Ian	26
7	Harry	18
8	Cock	15

So, with just one round to go in France, the Eclectic Competition looks like this. The best Four from the Six rounds played were counting
1	Cash Till	-12	Very tight at the top, lots of three pointers counting in the top four places.
2	Ian	-10
3	Tippy	-8
4	T.C.	-5
5	Porky	+11
6	Short Stuff	+14
7	Harry	+21
8	Cock	+39

Round Seven of Eight: Omaha Beach

1	Ian	36
2	Porky	32
3	Harry	31
4	Short Stuff	28
5	Tippy	27
6	Cash Till	22
7	T.C.	20
8	Cock	20

So, with just one round to go the Eclectic Competition looks like this. The best Five from the Seven rounds played were counting
1	Ian	-25	The whole idea of the eclectic is that anyone can still win on the last day. The system is obviously flawed as not even the wildest optimist could now bet that Cock could emulate Cash Till's feat and win from last place. But, with a great last round, and filling in all of the necessary spots, any of the top six could do it.
2	Cash Till	-21
3	Tippy	-18
4	T.C.	-11
5	Porky	-8
6	Short Stuff	-6
7	Harry	+4
8	Cock	+28

Last day, Back in England, Tadmarton, near Banbury, the final round

1	T.C.	37
2	Harry	33
3	Cash Till	33
4	Tippy	32
5	Short Stuff	32
6	Ian	31
7	Cock	30
8	Porky	30

The Final Results

Ancillary Competitions

Best team Player	Ian	4.5 wins from 8 (611 points)
Best Par Threes	Short Stuff	68 points
Best Par Fives	Cash Till	63 points
Consecutive holes without a blob	Tippy	32 holes
Most Blobs	Cock	37
Best total on 18th hole	Porky	13 / 16
Best Consecutive nine hole stretch	T.C.	23

Main Eclectic Competition Final Result: Five from Eight

Position	Name	Eclectic Score
1	T.C.	-39
2	Cash Till	-36
3	Ian	-31
4	Tippy	-24
5	Short Stuff	-21
6	Porky	-19
7	Harry	-7
8	Cock	+6

So it was that T.C. was declared the worthy and very popular winner of the 2007 tour, a full three shots clear. Cash Till made a valiant effort to defend but only managed second. Ian just couldn't make enough three pointers at Tadmarton.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief doing enough to stay ahead of Cock, who it must be said, had a dreadful golfing week. Still, he enjoyed the trip as much as anyone, and that's what counts.

Normally we would hurl the trophy over the side and into the channel, but obviously we couldn't do that this year.

The pictures show Cock receiving the last place prize - a photo of last year's winner which he must now hang in his house until next year's trip and T.C receiving a battered Gary the Gnome.

The interview with the winner went as follows:

*Gritters:*	So, how does it feel to have won the gritters?
T.C	Well, its my first and naturally I feel really great about it.
*Gritters:*	Can you be more specific, how exactly do you feel about it?
*T.C*	I feel really great about it.
*Gritters:*	What was different about your game this year that made the difference?
T.C	*Without a doubt it was my driving although the rest of game stood up well under the pressure.*
*Gritters:*	yawn yawn
T.C	is that it?

Cock receives the photo of Cash Till
T.C. receives the first prize of Gary the Gnome

Final team Photo