The 2024 Champion – from zero to hero

In the most unseasonal conditions, this years Yellowdot Christmas Cup competitors teed off in beautiful sunshine – this following a huge downpour the night before and 24 hours ahead of storm Darragh which was to close the course completely.

As is often said, it’s all about timing!

With the splendid spread of prizes up for grabs in both individual and team competitions, it seemed those with local knowledge had the edge this year.

The 2024 winner was club member Alastair Pettigrew with a very impressive 38 points, just pipping fellow member Tom Collisson by a single point. Host Jeremy (also a club member) sneaked into third and almost suffered a nose-bleed with such a high finish. Victory in the sunshine completed Alastair’s redemption after picking up the booby prize in 2022.

In the team competition, it was the ‘Aces’ trio of Geoff Young (defending 2023 Champion), Paul Calfe and Tom Collisson who collected the champagne prizes.

For the assorted ‘bits’ (nearest the pin, longest drive etc) the aforementioned Alastair, Tom and Jeremy also starred, along with (yet another) club member Liam Hale. At one point during the presentations, guests on one side of the dining table were asked to hold it down to stop the table tipping on account of the number of bottles on the other side.

Finally, the Champagne moment was awarded to Mark Sykes (aka Scud) who produced a par on the very tricky par four 10th hole. What made this unique was that his fourth shot (his putt) was actually longer than his first shot (his drive).

Many thanks to all that competed in this long-established event, now 26 years and counting. We look forward to doing it all again in 2025 – although unfortunately there are no guarantees we can expect such a glorious sunny day, fingers crossed.