July
26 - August 2, Czech Republic 
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 see the photos of 2008 2008 CZECH REPUBLIC In Year 24 of the Trophy, the Boys on Tour headed for Eastern Europe for the first time and found a hidden golfing paradise in the Czech Republic, with outstanding golf courses, excellent accommodation and a low cost of living. 90 minutes drive from Prague, we had outstanding self-catering in Nadlesí, a hamlet in Bohemia, central to the five different courses selected for the week and not far from the famous city of Plzeň, the original producer of the famous Pilsner beer. Flight scheduling also provided a rare opportunity for culture; tours of the beautiful city of Prague and the historic town of Karlovy Vary came onto the week’s agenda. “Shirt-sleeves and shorts” weather all week maximised the enjoyment of the excellent, generally empty, golf courses and club terraces in modern and well appointed golf clubs. While Sokolov, built on a former strip mine, was slightly agricultural, the courses at Karlovy Vary, Mariánské Láznĕ, Astoria-Cihelny and Františkovy Láznĕ ranged from good to outstanding. The first two offered some tight golf among mature pine forest, Cihelny had water a-plenty, and the new, long and challenging Františkovy Láznĕ (used for the final) was a real monster, and will be a championship course once the greens improve. While the green fees, reduced by using the Western Bohemia Golf Pass, were not cheap, it will not be often we get the opportunity to test our golf over such varied courses in such beautiful surroundings. For the Texas Scramble warm-up, we play a nine-hole course set inside the Karlovy Vary racecourse. Richard and Peter gallop to 5-up after only eight furlongs, but aggressive use of the whip by David and Nicholas (or by David on Nicholas!) cuts the lead to 1 by the 14th; however, Richard and Peter stride out to win 3 & 1, and Richard celebrates in style by driving the green on the 282-metre 18th! The Trophy begins at Karlovy Vary proper, a top-class mature course in pine forest, reminiscent of Wentworth. After 43 and 41 points in his first two rounds, Peter takes a commanding lead of 24 points over the field. This increases to 28 after his 35 at Sokolov. At Cihelny, the peloton makes its first move, with 43 from Richard, 42 from Nicholas and 36 from David, but the gap is still large. At Mariánské Láznĕ, Nicholas makes his bid, reeling the leader in by 12 points with superb rounds of 40 and 42; this puts him just three behind Peter, and these two make up the pairing for the final round. Second place is only a distant dream for Richard and David; respectively 17 and 21 behind, the battle is on to avoid the dreaded wooden spoon, a “trophy” neither has ever held! On the tough and beautiful Františkovy Láznĕ course, Peter rediscovers the swing of his youth and, despite many blind shots, hits 10 of the first 12 greens in regulation; he finishes with a 41 to take the Trophy for the first time since 2002, while Nicholas’ 26 assures him of 2nd place. The battle for the wooden spoon is closer-fought; Richard’s 4-shot lead has disappeared after 3 holes; on the 11th, the players require a translation of the local rules on immovable obstructions(helpfully written in both Czech and German!). The game is still live until the 18th, where Richard finds the water hazard (unmarked on the course planner) and David, to his relief, avoids the wooden spoon by 2 points. The Celtic Cross is also a two horse race by mid-week, also between Peter and Nicholas, after Yahtzee, 3 card brag, poker dice, UNO and the new games of roulette, Czech kagel (garage skittles to the uninitiated) and “squash ladder” (the photos provide a visual description!). Nicholas takes a 2½ point lead into the last two games, but lies 1 behind Peter in the ladder game; Richard has five throws for a single rung to drive Nicholas further down the field, but he misses (or is paid off!) In the final game of Yahtzee, Peter scores a Yahtzee, matched by Nicholas; Peter then scores his Yahtzee bonus, which, with David lying second, is surely enough to give him the prize … then at the death, Nicholas also throws his Yahtzee bonus to take 2nd place and win the Celtic Cross by 42 to 41½ . Peter and Richard are joint winners of the Fionn MacCool trophy with 43 stableford points; in two of his rounds, Nicholas has a putt on the 18th to match them, but misses out both times. The best gross score of the week, an 80 from Richard at Cihelny, should really have been mid-70’s; but is easily enough to win the Wooden Chap. David takes the Dunlop ’65 home yet again (he only lends it for the week – that’s 7 years in a row!) and Peter walks off with the Hologram Man for the cumulative stableford score on par 3s. Overall another excellent Trophy week; the adventure of trying a completely unknown region of Europe proved a real success. The plan for 2009 is to change the diet from Pilsner beer to French wine, with a venue in the East of France. |
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(SCRAMBLE). Sunday 27.07.08. Golf and Racing Club Karlovy Vary.
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2 and 1 by Richard and Peter. |
ROUND 1 Monday. 09h30 + 09h40. 28.07.08. Karlovy Vary. WINNER: Peter
| NAME | H'CAP |
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| RICHARD | 15.7 | 27 | +9 | +9 | +9 | 16.6 |
| NICHOLAS | 26.8 | 20 | +16 | +16 | +16 | 27.8 |
| DAVID | 17.1 | 36 (89) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17.1 |
| PETER | 27.4 | 43 | -7 | -7 | -7 | 24.6 |
ROUND 2 Monday 15h00 + 15h10. 28.07.08. Karlovy Vary. WINNER: Peter
| NAME |
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| RICHARD | 16.6 | 33 | +3 | +12 | +3 | 16.9 |
| NICHOLAS | 27.8 | 30 | +6 | +22 | +6 | 28.4 (28.0) |
| DAVID | 17.1 | 23 | +13 | +13 | 0 | 18.1 |
| PETER | 24.6 | 41 | -5 | -12 | -7 | 22.6 |
ROUND 3 Tuesday 11h10 and 11h20. 29.07.08. Sokolov. WINNER: Nicholas
| NAME |
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| RICHARD | 16.9 | 31 | +5 | +17 | +8 | 17.4 |
| NICHOLAS | 28.4 (28.0) | 35 | +1 | +23 | +7 | 28.1 (28.0) |
| DAVID | 18.1 | 23 | +13 | +26 | +13 | 19.1 |
| PETER | 22.6 | 35 | +1 | -11 | -12 | 22.7 |
ROUND 4 Wednesday 14h00 and 14h10. 30.07.08. Astoria-Cihelny. WINNER: Richard
| NAME |
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| RICHARD | 17.4 | 43 (80) | -7 | +10 | +1 | 16.0 |
| NICHOLAS | 28.1 (28.0) | 42 | -6 | +17 | +1 | 25.6 |
| DAVID | 19.1 | 36 | 0 | +26 | +13 | 19.1 |
| PETER | 22.7 | 35 | +1 | -10 | -11 | 22.8 |
ROUND 5 Thursday 09h30. 31.07.08. Played as a four-ball. Marianske Lazne. WINNER: Nicholas
| NAME |
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| RICHARD | 16.0 | 31 | +5 | +15 | +6 | 16.5 |
| NICHOLAS | 25.6 | 40 | -4 | +13 | -3 | 24.0 |
| DAVID | 19.1 | 34 | +2 | +28 | +15 | 19.3 |
| PETER | 22.8 | 32 | +4 | -6 | -10 | 23.2 |
ROUND 6 Thursday 15h40. 31.07.08. Marianske Lazne. WINNER: Nicholas
| NAME |
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| RICHARD | 16.5 | 34 | +2 | +17 | +8 | 16.7 |
| NICHOLAS | 24.0 | 42 | -6 | +7 | -9 | 22.2 |
| DAVID | 19.3 | 39 | -3 | +25 | +12 | 18.4 |
| PETER | 23.2 | 38 | -2 | -8 | -12 | 22.6 |
ROUND 7 (FINAL) Friday 10h00 and 10h10. 01.08.08. Frantiskovy Lazne. WINNER: Peter
| NAME |
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| RICHARD | 16.7 | 26 | +10 | +27 | +17 | 17.7 |
| NICHOLAS | 22.2 | 26 | +10 | +17 | +1 | 23.2 |
| DAVID | 18.4 | 33 | +3 | +28 | +15 | 18.7 |
| PETER | 22.6 | 41 | -5 | -13 | -17 | 21.1 |
RESULTS
| NAME |
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| PETER | 1 | -17 | 21.1 | |
| NICHOLAS | 2 | +1 | 23.2 | |
| DAVID | 3 | +15 | 18.7 | |
| RICHARD | 4 | +17 | 17.7 | |
| FIONN MAC COOL (Stableford Score) | Peter 43 | Richard 43 | Nicholas 42 | David 39 |
| WOODEN CHAP (Gross Score) | Richard 80 | David 88 | ||
| CELTIC CROSS | Nicholas 42 | Peter 41.5 | David 29 | Richard 27.5 |
| ECLECTIC (4's) | Richard -11 | Peter -5 | Nicholas -5 | David -1 |
| DUNLOP 65 (lost / OOB balls) | David 9 | Peter 12 | Nicholas 17 | Richard 22 |
| HOLOGRAM MAN (par 3s) | Peter 73 | Richard 66 | Nicholas 64 | David 56 |
| OTHER |
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| Par | 31 | 19 | 28 | 27 |
| Birdie | 5 | 3 | 6 | 2 |
| Eagle | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Sandy | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Grass ferret | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
(The Pig is held by David)
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