9/3/2011. The 16th stole the show

THE TWO RANDER , golfs biggest little trophy got off to a champagne popping start before the first shot was even hit, with an eagle at 16 by Brian Faure. Known as the psychological advantage, the par 3 16th was playing 138 metres with a centre front pin placement. Winter quickly strolled up, and without any practice swing, struck a good 6 iron draw landing safely on the centre of the green. Faure then meandered onto the tee box, with his 7 iron, always a club less than his smoother swinging counterpart, and after destroying the teebox with practice shots hit the most crisp and majestic iron shot . . . . . . . OF HIS LIFE.

The fans knew it was a great shot, high in the air , slightly drawing and tracking so straight that one had to lean to see the flag stick, but those near the tee box had their vision temporarily obscured by the Honda Jazz sized divot that went sailing into the air. The ball bounced once with plenty of bite, and rolled the last 4 feet straight into the centre of the cup for a. . . . . WAIT FOR IT . . . . . . . . .  hole in 1 !!! Winter, not to be outdone, rolled in his 28 foot double breaking putt to record a birdie and a combined score of 3 under par for the hole, but still lost the psychological advantage.

As the coin was flipped by defending champ Brian Faure and tails was called by all time Two Rander order of merit leader and crowd favourite Andrew Winter, Winter was already teeing up, knowing that he hasn't lost a coin toss since Keith joined Mowbray GC. A few sloppy shots followed a great tee shot by Faure, who hung his tee shot over the railway tracks and let it fade nicely onto the fairway and he went onto the 18th with a 1 shot cushion. Faure again, bombed a drive down Mowbrays home stretch , as Winter chuckled silently and hit his 3 iron even further. The swing woes crept back into Faure's game as he sliced the daylights out of his 5 wood second shot, into the ever frightening and unforgiving water protecting the green. Winter hit his 3rd shot, another beautiful iron shot from 155, onto the front of the green. As brian chipped onto the green for 4, Winter read the green like a picture book and stuck his putt like a dream. The arm went up, the ball went down and the two rand coin was back in his bag after a narrow miss by his opponent who went on to 4 putt. As the players walked past Joey's now empty office, Winter knew that his sandbag too, was about to be empty :) The legal team at Mowbray combined with chief sponsors K.T quickly drew up a new and very lucrative contract to keep the 2 rander on its pristine course. And as Winter enjoyed a rare win this season, the real winner was golf and the players went back to their coaches to prepare for the next TWO RANDER.