Golfers Stripped Of Club Competition Win For Not Attending Presentation

 Stockport Golf Club has come under fire after awarding first place in one of its competitions to the third-placed finishers because they attended the presentations while the top two did not.

In a now-deleted Tweet, @SGCGentsComps, the club’s information and results account, congratulated the winners despite them getting fewer points in the fourball betterball stableford competition, adding: “It just shows how important it is to attend presentations.”

Alex Brown and Andrew Given were named the winners of Saturday’s competition with their score of 36 points. Andy Hutchison and David Williams, who scored 38 points, and Jon Worsnop and Huw Anthony, with 37, both accrued more points, but crucially, at least at Stockport Golf Club, they didn’t attend the presentation.

When one Twitter user replied "Tough school at Stocky," @SGCGentsComps responded: “It is, but they know the rules and traditions when they join.”  Others were not so polite in their criticism of the decision to promote the third-placed pair up to first. “Embarrassing. What’s the average age of the comps committee,” tweeted another user, whilst another said, “106! Same as their handicap!”.

“It’s 2022 for crying out loud Gents,” tweeted cult Twitter account Secret Club Pro, who received a reply of, “I can partially understand this if it was for a major competition. But for a 4BBB stableford?!? And clubs wonder why golf is seen as an elitist old fashioned sport... And why people don't join their clubs”. 

That thought was shared by another user who posted: “Good to see the old tie n blazer brigade are still in force. Until we change this mentality within our main sporting bodies #FA #ECB there's no hope for anyone. Shambles”.

Fourball Betterball is a golf format that sees two teams of two face each other with each player playing their own ball and the lowest score from each pair counting. Stableford is a scoring system that sees players earn points for their performance on each hole against their own handicap, allowing players of all standards to compete against each other.