Middlesex County Championship Preview

The Intro;

The third of my major competitions of 2010 is the Middlesex County Championships on Friday 4^th June.

This is a 36 hole strokeplay event, with the top 16 going into knockout matchplay thereafter, this year held at Bush Hill Park Golf Club from Friday - Sunday.

The Background;

The County Championships are generally one of the main events for a low handicapper during the year. I have played in the Middlesex County Championships in the last 2 years.

The Location;

The venue rotates each year, and this year Bush Hill Park has been chosen. It is just south of Enfield, so is in the very North East corner of the county.

The Course;

I have never played the course before, and don’t have time for a practice round either. It is a par 70, although the SSS is only 68. It has 4 par 5s and 6 par 3s, and at under 5,800 yards is very short for a County Championship venue, and puts the focus on accuracy rather than length – maybe not a bad thing for me when the young guns can knock it 40 yards past me.

The Competition;

The maximum field is 72 players, and there will be prizes for the strokeplay on the Friday, and for the matchplay stages too. I don’t know what the prizes are, and to be honest it doesn’t really matter, in this case it’s the prestige of a County Championship that matters.

The qualifying score for the top 16 is consistently 6 over the SSS for 2 rounds, which for Bush Hill Park would be 142.

The Target;

In my first year playing in this tournament I finished in 40^th place, and in the 2^nd year improved to….. errr…. 39^th place. In each of those years I had a disappointing first round which knocked me right out, before having a much better second round. I would love to finish in the top 16 and come back on Saturday for the matchplay, I will have to play as well as I did last weekend to have a chance of that.

Updates will appear here at about 2pm and 7pm (UK) on Friday.