Weymouth 2014 - Ben does it again!

Ben W has become the Tour's first five-time winner following victory at the 2014 Weymouth-based Tour.

He'd led by a shot after day one at Came Down but had fallen two behind after Saturday's round at the Dorset. A final day total of 33 at Weymouth saw him home by two shots from Kevin with James a further shot back after a last day best of 37.

Day 1 - Came Down

Despite the promising weather forecast it was a grey start to the competition and there were showers on the first tee as 'Ivor Robson' introduced the players. The showers continued on and off through the first half dozen holes or so but it was clear that the course had seen a lot of rain recently. Some of the greens seemed sodden and it was a tough day for judging the pace of your putts.

Defending champ Ben W made the best start with 36 points but the field was lining up behind him. Kevin scored 35, Simon 34 and Matthew (who'd suffered more than most on the greens) with 33. Of the remainder only James managed to break 30 with Ben F, Bruce and Paul all struggling.

Day 2 - The Dorset (Woodland/Lakeland)

While no rain fell on us on the Saturday this course had clearly taken a hammering and we were playing preferred lies. More disappointingly a couple of greens had small ponds in them! Brian and Paul steamed into the Woodland course scoring 20 and 19 respectively on our front nine but neither player could build on that on the Lakeland section.

It was Kevin's turned to top the charts with 36 and he went into the last day as our leader as Ben could only pick up 33. Last year seven points covered the top six after the second round, this time The top two had a six point cushion over the rest.

Day 3 - Weymouth 

Despite the gap, plenty of players felt that a 40-point round could get them in the frame come the end of the day. It was a lovely day with much less wind than last year to encourage good scoring but this is a tough course even on a benign day. James got closest to being in the shake-up but his 37 points were ultimately good enough for third.

Ben and Kevin had been paired together for the last round and early on in the round it was nip and tuck. Ultimately though it was Ben's relentless accuracy that wore down his opponent and with Kevin only getting 29 points on the day Ben's 33 saw him home by two and clinched his fifth title.

Final scores

Ben W - 36, 33, 33 = 102
Kevin - 35, 36, 29 = 100
James - 31, 31, 37 = 99
Simon - 34, 26, 36 = 96
Brian - 29, 34, 30 = 93
Matthew - 33, 29, 31 = 93
Ben F - 27, 27, 27 = 81
Paul - 24, 31, 26 = 81
Bruce - 26, 20, 29 = 75

Weymouth 2014 pairings

The names have been pulled out of the electronic hat and the pairings for this weekend's tournament have come out as follows:

1st Round: Came Down - first tee-time 13:00

Group 1 - Ben W, James, Bruce
Group 2 - Ben F, Kevin, Brian
Group 3 - Simon, Matthew, Paul

2nd Round: The Dorset - first tee-time 12:12

Group 1 - Ben W, Ben F, Simon
Group 2 - Bruce, Brian, Paul
Group 3 - James, Kevin, Matthew

3rd Round: Weymouth - first tee-time 10:30

Group 1 - Bruce, Matthew, Ben F
Group 2 - James, Brian, Simon
Group 3 - Ben W, Kevin, Paul

The pairings committee have concluded that there will be no change to the last day order of play even if the tournament leader is not in the final group.

2014 Tour handicaps announced

Following a two hour handicap committee meeting yesterday the handicaps for next weekend’s tournament in Weymouth are as follows

Based on official Club handicaps

Ben W – 10
Kevin – 10
Bruce – 16
Matt – 14
Brian – 17

Based on final handicap at 2013 KOT

Ben F – 16
Simon – 21
Paul – 36
James - 36

Remind yourself what happened last year.

2014 US Masters Prediction Competition - the scores

Congratulations to Bruce who has successfully defended his US Masters predictions title. He finished with a second successive 69 to make it four under par rounds. Simon and Ben W shared the runners-up honours five shots back.

- 8 Bruce - 71, 71, 69, 69 = 280
- 3 Simon - 71, 72, 70, 72 = 285
- 3 Ben W - 74, 70, 72, 69 = 285
-1 Mark - 74, 70, 71, 72 = 287
+3 Matthew - 74, 74, 71, 72 = 291
+5 Kevin - 73, 77, 68, 75 = 293
+14 James - 79, 68, 85, 70 = 302
+18 Paul - 79, 78, 76, 73 = 306
+22 Ben F - 74, 79, 85, 72 = 310

2014 US Masters Competition - The entries

Rules - Pick 4 different golfers for the 4 days… the catch - only 2 can be in the current top 20. 

You score what they score for that day you pick them, if you picked any golfer in day 3 or 4 and they miss the cut then you score 85 for those two days. Lowest score overall wins….

Name	Golfer - Round 1	Golfer - Round 2	Golfer - Round 3	Golfer - Round 4
James	Donald	Furyk	Mickelson	Stenson
Mark	Furyk	Donald	McIlroy	Scott
Paul	Donald	McDowell	Scott	Westwood
Kevin	Reed	McIlroy	Kuchar	Henley
Bruce	Jimenez	Westwood	Rose	McIlroy
Ben F	English	Reed	Garcia	Day
Matthew	Jones	Els	McIlroy	Scott
Simon	Fowler	Walker	Day	Scott
Ben	Garcia	Donald	Furyk	McIlroy

2014 - Return to Weymouth

After the highly successful 2013 Tour KOT is heading back to Weymouth.

Ben W will be defending his title at some point in May/June (date to be finalised) and it's also expected that we'll be visiting the same three courses as last year.

As a reminder they were:

Fri – Came Down

Sat – Weymouth

Sun – The Dorset