2016-04-01_Birkdale

Getaway day to the course, this Friday afternoon round ushers in spring with 18 at Royal Birdale. Steve, Rick, Jon N., and Todd will not only be vying for RVa Cup points but all important opening round Olympic competition wins.

A moist and wet course met the competitors for the first full Olympic Golf round. The windy conditions made for tradegic decisions while plotting around the short-ish course. Mike and Todd jumped out with early pars with deft scambling abilities. The devilishly short par 4 3rd gobbled up two perfect drives by Todd and Steve in a green-fronting hazard. Steve had a rough stretch in the middle of the opening 9 and Rick found water on the difficult par 5 9th. Todd took advantage with a one shot lead over Rick and Mike at the turn with all players still in contention. Steve's attempt at a comeback faltered on the par 5 13th after an unfortunate lost ball after a drop. A series of crucial pars for Rick on 15 and 16 gave him a 3 shot advantage going into the final 2 holes. However, Mike was able to close the 3 shot gap on the final holes to match Rick on the back 9, splitting victory honors.

The Olympic competition opened to a highly competitive match, seeing England and Ireland tie in their inaugural match. Germany struggled to keep pace and dropped their first matches of the round-robin stage. Lebanon fought tough and captures their first victory the early stages of the campaign.