The 10th edition of The Missing Links was held at Royal St David's Championship golf links at Harlech, North Wales.

 

Royal St David's is a classic championship links of international renown.  It provided a very stern test of golf, in a breath-taking setting, positioned underneath the brooding presence of Harlech Castle.  In top condition it is up there with the best in the UK. Unfortunately, we didn’t see it at its best as a result of the drought earlier in the summer. It was fast, hard and bouncy and that was just the greens. Nevertheless, the golf was fun and the tournament was highly enjoyable. For those who weren’t in the mix there was the consolation of the Mr Whippy van. I’m pretty sure Mr Newbury had one every 9 holes he played (with a flake, naturally).

 

We stayed at a local hotel, “Y Branwen”, across the road from the course. The food and drink were very nice but the hosts didn’t altogether appreciate our approach to life as much as they might have done. Let’s leave it there, shall we. The night life consisted of The Queen’s Head just up the road where the landlord resembled Jeff Bridges’ Rooster Coburn. We made our own fun in the beer garden and the roses in the corner have probably never looked better after a comprehensive fertilizing by Mr Rolfe. 

 

The golf was highly competitive although the defending champion managed to play himself out of contention in the first 5 holes. The condition of the course meant that it was a test of nerve and resilience where imaginative shot making was required. This being the case it came as no surprise that Mr Haley prevailed – a man blessed with the softest of soft hands. He may not have been entirely satisfied with the 36-hole winning score (the lowest in TML history) but his victory was entirely merited and as they say, when the going gets tough, the tough get going.

 

Scores:

1. Beast: 30, 24: 54

2. A.J.: 27, 25: 52

3. Flex: 32, 20: 52

4. Gaz: 23, 27: 50

5. Bryn: 22, 27: 49

6. Rolfey: 24, 22: 46

7. Barry: 20, 24: 44

8. Daver: 24, 20: 44

9. Ant: 28, 16: 44

10. G-Dog: 22, 20: 42

11. Richie: 29, 12: 41