The Dartmouth Open 2010

The Dartmouth Open 2010 looked like it would have a very large field in the summer of 2009, with at least 10 players expressing an interest in competing, but at 11.30am on Monday 18th January 2010 there were just 5 players on the 1st tee on the dartmouth Championship course (still, one more than last year!).

A week before the whole of the UK was covered in snow, but the warm Devon weather had thawed and the conditions were perfect for three days of competitive golf.

After round 1, defending champion Dave Knatt had played a personal best round of 104, with the four other players all scoring badly - but the Open has never been won on the first day.

On the morning of the second day, Peter O'Shea dropped a bombshell - he would be unable to play the second round due to a bad back. The rules committee was hastely convened, and controversially decided to allow Pete's 1st round score to stand for his 2nd round. Pete retired to the sauna whilst the 4 remaining players made their way to the 1st tee. 

Once again Dave Knatt led the field, increasing his already sizeable lead to 12 shots by the end of day 2. Chris Goode, the young pretender, held the longest putt, and was close behind Dave in the Matchplay Competition, but with the Par 3 Competition seemingly in the bag, Wedensday's prize ceremony looked like being a clean sweep for the 2009 champion. Additionally, the field had been further stripped down, with Ian Milner retiring after 10 holes on Day 2.

So on Day 3 just 3 players began the final round. Dave Knatt, Chris Goode and in third place, Duncan Wall. A 10 on the first for Dave was not the start he would have imagined, and after a wonderful 17 holes from Chris, the players (with Duncan out of the running) stood at the 18th tee with just 1 shot between the top 2 players. Chris, a shot behind, failed to hit the green on this final par 3, but Dave Knatt did, and even with 3 putts, the title was once again his, winning by 2 shots.

Dartmouth Golf and Country Club once again hosted a wonderful competition. With plenty of pool and poker in the evenings, good reasonably priced food, and facilities for those less fanatical golfers, the course and clubhouse offers great value golf, and the weather held up too!

See you all next year!!

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