IC XVII Final Day

La Quinta was Friday's location - but our bus driver didn't seem to know it. Clearly heading the wrong way, we gave him the opportunity to show us a different route west - perhaps via the toll road - but eventually had to tell him to turn round. Seems his office gave him the wrong instructions - he was taking us back to Santa Maria again.

La Quinta is a very professional set-up - good downhill driving range with balls all set up; water and juice loaded in to the buggies. It has three nines and we were playing courses A & C, both of which were in excellent condition - and we were able, for the first time this week, to take the buggies on to the fairways, so it was back to summer rules - no lift, clean and place this time.

The winner on the day was Syd, showing a welcome return to form after feeling a bit below par for the last few days. His 30 points was just enough to pip Malcolm, who had a better second half of the week after a slow start. Here's Malcolm handing the winner's ball to Syd:

So, who was the overall winner of the Iberian Cup in its 17th year? It'll come as no surprise that the overnight leader, John Davies, comfortably won, with the challengers mostly wilting away, leaving John with a healthy winning margin of 7 points. Here's last year's winner, Malcolm, presenting John with his first ever Iberian Cup, in his 6th attempt and after an absence of 12 years:

The final scores - Top 4 - were:

1  Davies, John	118
2= Grigor, Malcolm	111
2= Bhagrath, Jas	111
4  Stewart, Ian	110
5  Freeman, Syd	108
6  Taylor, Dick	107
7  Salter, Harry	105
8  Page, Ken	95
9  Street, Peter	89

Other prizewinners were:

• Eclectic - Malcolm - 49 points (on countback from me and John)
• Gross (6 days) - Syd - 121
• Team - Medium Handicappers (Me, John & Dick) - 14.5 points out of a possible 18

Other stats:

• Lost balls - 131, with Ken highest at 21 and me lowest at 7
• H.o.G.'s - only 2 all week - me and Syd
• Ladies - 4 in all, with Harry having 2 of them
• Longest Drives:

  Grigor, Malcolm	2
  Street, Peter	2
  Page, Ken	1
  Davies, John	1

• Nearest the Pins:

  Freeman, Syd	3
  Stewart, Ian	2
  Page, Ken	2
  Grigor, Malcolm	1
  Davies, John	1
  Taylor, Dick	1

• Birdies:

• Freeman, Syd	3
  Grigor, Malcolm	3
  Stewart, Ian	2
  Davies, John	2
  Taylor, Dick	1
  Page, Ken	1

  Wee Cup - retained by Ken for the 3rd year in a row, by virtue of him forgetting to bring it along, and in the absence of any substantial alternative nominations

After the prizegiving, we headed down to Puerto Banus again for a nostalgic return to Tango restaurant, a wonderful Argentinian steakhouse where we'd enjoyed a few meals in the past:

 We weren't disappointed - the steaks - and spicy sausages and black pudding - were great.

Walking round the port later, we were again surprised by how relatively quiet it was - not like the old days. We went back to the piano bar (now Joy's), a favourite of John and Dick especially, and I enquired why there was nobody through the back where we used to go, and I was told that it doesn't start until midnight! Way too late for us tired boys.

Back at our hotel, before completing my packing, I decided to model the by now semi-traditional shirt I received for organising the week:

Thanks for this guys. I enjoyed the week - hope everyone else did too.

A few ideas were thrown about concerning the location for next year, but nothing definitive - we'll leave that for another day.