REUTERS

Auckland, 2023

Te Arai Links | Saturday 14th & Sunday 15th October, 2023.

Competitors: Moose, Pig, Raven, Jab, Cube, Prisky, Floody, Jono (aka Jono).

A beautiful spring morning welcomed contestants to the inaugural Beige Jackets and Bombay Cup competitions at the superb Te Arai Links facility.  The newly opened North Course awaited our esteemed contestants, all of whom were striking the ball exceedingly well on the warm up facilities, setting the stage for some to come crashing back down to earth under the pressure of live competition.

In arguably perfect conditions scoring was tough, with only 25% of the players shooting their handicap or better on the day.  Generous fairways and a relatively short course - in immaculate condition - meant hitting greens and putting well were paramount to a low score.  However, rolling hills delivered few flat lies and severely undulating greens saw double - or triple - breaking putts on every hole, resulting in many three-putts and the occasional four-putt.  Highlights of the day were few and far between, but special mention goes to Pig’s impressive eagle on the 9th that was good for 5 points and which took his front nine total to a less impressive 9 points.   Floody had a near hole-in-one on the 15th after a filthy topped tee shot ran up the fairway, around a bunker onto the elevated green and just stopped short of going in.  The poor caddie was heard muttering “Jesus that was a disgusting shot” as he walked away.

At the close of play, despite doing his best to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, and arriving at the competition with a woefully unthoughtful nickname, Jono Rooney became the first player ever to win the Bombay Cup with a solid 38 points.  Jono’s acceptance speech and multiple comments throughout the remainder of the weekend set a behavioural standard that will no doubt be enthusiastically followed by subsequent winners of the competition.

Post match refreshments were followed by a general election, a good sleep in luxury accommodation generously provided by the inaugural host, and a tense All Blacks quarter-final victory over Ireland the following morning. This set the stage for the pinnacle Beige Jackets competition.

Nerves were frayed after the rugby, and the atmosphere was thick with competitive intensity on the practice green.  New partnerships were formed for the pairs best-ball stableford competition, and a suitable amount of gamesmanship endured as players jostled for the mental edge over their opponents.  Te Arai’s South Course presents a different challenge to the North Course: breathtaking views and challenging visuals accompanied a wind that was manageable but added an important layer of complexity to decision making and shot execution.  Fatigue no doubt played a part on Sunday; post-round stats showed as much as 15km were covered each day by some (less accurate?) players.  This led to poor overall scoring, meaning players with better team management would likely emerge victorious.  Enter Raven and Prisky.  TEAM RAPRISK ham-and-egged the sh1t out of the South Course, presenting the same score on only two holes to deliver a whopping 47 points and comfortably securing the coveted Beige Jackets for 2023. Despite being the inaugural Beige Jackets event, this score will prove hard to beat in years to come, with Team RAPRISK certainly earning the right to pair up again in 2024.

Highlights of the day for the rest of the field were non-existent, although special mention must be made of Floody’s day two performance. Needing a short putt on the 18th hole to avoid an ignominious 17 stableford points, Floody managed to lip-out from 4 feet to tie that previously all-time-low. Less cynical onlookers may have overheard a (reasonably) genuine ‘hard luck bro’ comment escape the lips of a few group members, however the more observant may have noted that one group member in particular had a tougher time keeping a straight face as he turned to shake his opponent’s hand.

 ENDS.