National Matchplay Grand Final report
17-23 October 2006

Talk about a wise investment! On a wintry morning you filled in your entry form and posted your £40 payment to The Golfers Club in the vague hope that you might win a couple of rounds of matchplay and perhaps experience a new course or two. After two wins you start thinking the unthinkable. Perhaps I should book the week off work? Is my passport up to date? Where did I put that flowery shirt? Well for thirty two golfers from around the UK and Eire the dream came true in October.

From an initial entry of some 1140 pairs, 16 teams (mens and mixed) finally won the trip of a lifetime to the magnificent Half Moon resort in Jamaica’s Montego Bay. Following four hard-fought rounds of matchplay and a tense regional final, the winners finally set foot on the warm tarmac of Sangster International Airport on 17th October, ready to do battle in this Caribbean paradise.

Although this is classed as the Grand Final of the Matchplay Championship, a stableford format is used in Jamaica, identical to the better-ball format employed for the Regional Finals. Three courses are used: Half Moon, Cinnamon Hill and The White Witch, all marvellous venues but totally different in style.

Left to right :
Nick Potter - Bupa Travel Services
Mixed Pair Winner: Kevin & Christine Quinn
John Woosey - The Golfers Club Managing Director
Mens Pairs Winner: Ben Coombes & Ian White
Diane Greenland - American Golf

Designed by Robert Trent Jones Snr, the Half Moon is closer to a ‘members’ course than the others. In other words, it takes repeated playing before it reveals its secrets and subtleties. A relatively flat course skirting the Caribbean coastline, Half Moon has undergone a multi-million dollar refurbishment and now provides a testing but hugely enjoyable experience. The caddies are knowledgeable and often good players, each with an uncanny ability to read greens accurately and explain the mysteries of putting on grainy surfaces. So much more than a bag carrier, each caddy is a character with a story to tell and a unique slant on life.

Left to right :
Nick Potter - Bupa Travel Services
John Woosey - The Golfers Club Managing Director
Mens Pairs Winner: Ben Coombes & Ian White
Diane Greenland - American Golf

Cinnamon Hill wears its heart more on its sleeve. A course of contrasting styles, you’ll tackle tree-lined parkland, seaside links and chirruping jungle. The caddies openly beam with pride as they point out Johnny Cash’s house and the precipitous par-3 hole where ‘Live and Let Die’ was filmed. Ian Fleming, it seems, lived on the island and wrote several James Bond novels here. In the Jamaican heat you’ll be glad of a cart but the Cinnamon experience is exhilarating and the staff can’t do enough to help you.

Left to right :
Nick Potter - Bupa Travel Services
Mixed Pair Winner: Kevin & Christine Quinn
John Woosey - The Golfers Club Managing Director
Diane Greenland - American Golf

The White Witch pulls no punches. Set in the hills overlooking the ocean, this course stays forever in the memory. As we drove up the steep driveway towards the imposing clubhouse, a competitor gazed awestruck at the adjacent par-3 hole, flanked by water and impenetrable jungle. “Stroke 18, that one,” came the comforting comment. The coach drops you off at the rear of the clubhouse, all staged of course to maximise the impact of emerging from the front door. And what a view it is! After catching their breath the players started off with a gentle 600 yard par-5 with a right-angled fairway and 150 yard carry over rocks and scrub. Everyone was scrambling for cameras but eventually players became curiously blasé after capturing their 27th stunning view!

Although each team had their own personal favourites, the golfers loved all three courses and gave this Caribbean island a very definite thumbs up as a golfing destination. Two teams in particular found the golf to their liking, winning the Men’s and Mixed pairs events with shots to spare and with precious little assistance from their handicaps. Hampshire’s Kevin and Christine Quinn took the mixed title with all of five handicap shots between them – and they all belong to Kevin! Christine, it should be said, is the reigning British Senior Ladies Strokeplay Champion and plays off scratch. The Men’s title went to Oak Park’s Ian White and Ben Coombes with handicaps of 13 and 5 respectively, both men playing blistering golf in the 30 degree heat.

But what of the resort itself? Half Moon is not really a hotel but a series of serviced apartments and villas spread over 400 acres along the ocean. Although the golf is fantastic the Half Moon menu offers so much more. With a couple of free days available, several competitors (and WAGS) swam with dolphins, snorkelled, rode horses and took a kayak out to sea – they did return! For the more adventurous there are off-site excursions to the Dunn’s River Falls, a stunning natural waterfall which you can scale in a vast human chain. And for those whose idea of fun is more linked to quenching thirst, the joys of the pool bar and beachside bar were much appreciated. It was reported that at one stage the island was in danger of running out of Red Stripe, but emergency supplies were flown in. One competitor (you know who you are) spent rather too long in the bar and was asked to leave because he was “louder than the band”!

Although there are restaurants in the Montego Bay area, the Half Moon resort caters for most tastes with its superb range of restaurants. The Seagrape is accessed from main reception and sits literally feet from the beach while the golf club itself boasts the excellent Sugar Mill, complete with musical duo. The Thai/Indian was a new addition, right in the heart of the resort’s shopping village and the neighbouring English pub offers more traditional fayre (although I can’t imagine a waiter in Cleethorpes greeting your order with, “Peace and brotherly love, man”).

The tournament culminated in a wonderful cocktail reception and gala dinner in the exotically named Oleander Terrace. The winners gave gracious thanks to their fellow competitors and to the Half Moon resort and received the most magnificent memento – a framed photograph of the resort housing a commemorative five pound note, specially printed to celebrate Jack Nicklaus’s final Open Championship, and personally signed by the great man himself.

As always, special thanks must go to our host partners Half Moon, Air Jamaica and the Jamaican Tourist Board whose Marketing Director Torrance Lewis kindly spoke at our Gala Dinner, and to our sponsors American Golf, Bupa Travel Services and Golf TV Pro Shop.

So remember, for an initial investment of £20 per player….It could be you!

Entries for the 2007 Matchplay Championship are now open.

To enter visit www.matchplaychampionship.co.uk or call 0870 902 2110.

2006 Final Positions
Pos	Mens Section -	H/Cap	Cinnamon Hill	White Witch	Half Moon	Points
Pos	Player	H/Cap	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Points
1	Ian White	13	40	38	41	119
1	Ben Coombes	5	40	38	41	119
2	Neil Jeffrey	12	37	38	38	113
2	Andrew Webster	2	37	38	38	113
3	Peter Jones	11	39	34	39	112
3	Bill Laing	8	39	34	39	112
4	Donal Byrne	15	40	36	36	112
4	Robert Mullane	9	40	36	36	112
5	Sean Payne	17	37	33	40	110
5	Steve Richal	10	37	33	40	110
6	Mark Bocking	6	39	34	33	106
6	Jon Henry	9	39	34	33	106
7	Andrew Wharton	8	33	29	25	87
7	Phil Bond	14	33	29	25	87
8	Stephen Bootes	10	NTC	NTC	NTC	NTC
8	Martin Goodright	9	NTC	NTC	NTC	NTC
Pos	Mixed Section -	H/Cap	Cinnamon Hill	White Witch	Half Moon	Points
Pos	Player	H/Cap	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Points
1	Kevin Quinn	5	41	35	41	117
1	Christine Quinn	Scr	41	35	41	117
2	Alex Gillies	5	37	37	41	115
2	Catherine Gillies	25	37	37	41	115
3	Peter Clement	10	32	35	47	114
3	Katherine Barbrook	15	32	35	47	114
4	Nathan Summers	8	37	35	41	113
4	Stephanie Summers	11	37	35	41	113
5	Nigel Dent	2	33	30	41	104
5	Mandy Dent	19	33	30	41	104
6	Chris Jones	18	34	33	36	103
6	Ann Newman	6	34	33	36	103
7	Irene Matheson *	33	21	26	29	76
7	Vincent Carter	5	21	26	29	76
* only Irene's score counted as change of partner

Past Events

National Matchplay Grand Final report 17-23 October 2006

National Matchplay Grand Final report
17-23 October 2006