Second half of Alliance season delayed by the downpours

THE January downpours have disrupted the start of the second half of the county golf Alliance season.

Due to get under way at Market Harborough GC today, the first of 11 planned tournaments is off because of the impact on ground conditions of recent wet weather.

The last two Alliance seasons have been affected by lockdown restrictions, although the first half of the current programme went ahead as planned, with few problems.

Even the weather, something which has seen cancellations in the past, proved positive, so officials and members – professionals and amateurs alike – were hoping for similar luck with this run of 11 tournaments scheduled before the Alliance Championships, which mark the climax of the 2021-22 programme.

The championships will be played at Scraptoft, home club of the current president of the Alliance, in early April.

Craig Shave (Whetstone) dominated the first half of the Alliance season with some stunning performances.

He heads both the overall order of merit and the professionals’ OOM, after securing a number of first places outright, as well as some joint wins in the professionals awards. He started the season in fine style, winning on his own home course, before coming joint top at Kirby Muxloe two weeks later, and was first again at Glen Gorse in mid-October.

A week later he shared pole position with Matthew Cort (Beedles Lake) at Willesley Park before securing another outright win at Rothley Park in the next competition.

Then came a one-two success for Cort and Shave at Forest Hill and The Leicestershire, before the two of them tied top at Kibworth.

Shave tied first at Lingdale with his eight-under-par 44 points haul, and in the final tournament before the Christmas break, there was a Shave-Cort one-two at Hinckley.

Cort missed some of the county Alliance fixtures because of his other commitments during this first half of the season. But he posed the greatest challenge to Shave’s run of sharp consistency.

He heads the professionals’ order of merit with his 84 points tally so far, with Cort on 55 at this stage.

Jon Williamson (Birstall) has amassed 30 points, with Neil Parker (Humberstone Heights) on 28 and Bob Larratt (Kibworth) on 27.

In the overall OOM, Shave, with 36 points, is leading from amateur Mick

Jordan (Cosby) on 32 and Andrew Allden (Cosby) on 19. But, of course, there is still a long way to go before all the issues are resolved for the 2021-2022 programme.

The next scheduled Alliance action is at the Woolfox Golf and Country Club – formerly known as Rutland County GC – on Thursday, January 20, followed by meetings at Beedles Lake, Birstall, Kirby Muxloe, Rothley Park, Lutterworth, Melton Mowbray, Cosby, Glen Gorse. Charnwood Forest, then the Championships at Scraptoft.

In between these tournaments there is the Alliance President’s Day Out at the end of February.