Dominic Foos

The Boys Amateur golf championships are being played on the Wirral this week, with my club Wallasey featuring on the first two days before the top 64 players then go into the knock-out stage at Royal Liverpool ( Hoylake).

I volunteered to be a marshal, so have watched the cream of European U18 golfers strutting their stuff for a couple of days. There were two Americans in the field but otherwise it was dominated by Brits, Italians, Germans, French and Spanish.

The weather on day 1 was wild, but that did not stop a few players beating par with 5 under being the clubhouse leader. The course standard scratch (CSS) at Wallasey was 76 which is 4 over par,  so the leader actually was 9 under in real terms. The CSS at The Royal was 77.

Day two saw conditions more favourable with the CSS reduced to 74 at Wallasey, and it gave me the chance to see the new wonderkid on the block, the German Dominic Foos.

Dominic is just 16 and has a handicap of +6. For non-golfers reading this that means he should play courses in six shots less than the par for the course. He is already being courted  by American colleges for a 2016 start, he has his own web-site, and a monogram designed on his initials DF, much like Tiger Woods does.

The question is though, is he really that good? Well frankly yes he is, but he is not commanding the European boys arena uncontested.

He played his stroke play rounds with Bradley Moore and Connor Syme and all three of them qualified for the knock-out stage due,  in no small part to playing holes 13 & 14 in a combined total of 10 under par. Connor lost in the last 32 but Dominic and Bradley have made it through to the last 16.

Dominic was 3 holes down against Harry Ellis, the English Amateur champion, but won 5 holes on the bounce to triumph   3 & 2. With good French, Italian,  Spanish, Belgium and British players still left in the competition, the final couple of days are going to be riveting. You can follow it all here, but remember you heard his name here first!!

Doghouse

Just spent the weekend at the Tatton Park RHS garden show. It's the first time I have been to such an event although SWMBO has been to the Chelsea flower show in the past. Two things struck me; it's very old pound oriented with most of the clientele making me look young, and, loads of people walk round with these plastic collapsible shopping trolleys which get in everybody's  way

The event was quite interesting though, and I took a couple of shed shots to see whether they inspired me

This one had the Plymouth word on it, but I was taken by the astroturf SHED on the orange one. They do both look a bit like beach huts though, so I will not be using outrageous colour schemes when it comes to painting mine.



That moment is still sometime off as I have been faced with a leaking roof crisis. The recent downpours have certainly indicated that the pitch on the roof is inadequate, so the felt has all come off and its back to square one on Monday, with a different fall angle and slope. Hopefully that will work, then the sides can be completed and the shed used for its main purpose.



I am still being pressured to have a sofa and TV in there, but as the only power source is going to be solar, there is little point in the TV or kettle. If I am sent to the doghouse I may just have to revert to the original shed which is all powered up. Lets hope it doesn't come to that though, and the Tatton Park plans can all be hatched and installed ready for next season.

This one really has been a bit of a wash out.

50 not out

SWMBO and I were at Lord's on Saturday for the second testy match against Australia, we have been going for most of the 23 years we have been together. Saturday was, however, my 50th anniversary.

It all started in June 1963 when my dad took me out of school and we went to the second and third day of the second test against the West Indies. What a test match to debut in! West Indies were stacked with great name cricketers, Conrad Hunte opened, Gary Sobers came in at number 3 followed by Rohan Kanhai and Basil  Butcher. Frank Worrell captained the side and could call upon Lance Gibbs as well as Wes Hall and Charlie Griffiths in his bowling attack.

The match is memorable for two things. Ted Dexter took on the might of Hall and Griffiths, scoring 70 runs off 73 balls when others struggled around him, and following Butchers classy 100 in the West Indies second innings, Colin Cowdrey came out to bat the final  over with England needing six to win with a plaster cast on the arm he broke earlier in the innings.

Dad took me to many games after that, always saying the Friday and Saturday gave a chance to see the end of the first innings, all of the second and the start of the third, and so I continued after Dad was no longer able to attend. We were at the Massie test in 1972 when the Australian took 8 wickets in each innings, and he did take me to the last test played by the South African's at the Oval, before the D'Oliviera case isolated them,  in 1965

My mate Mike McBride and I took up the gauntlet starting at the England v Australia centenary test in 1980 and I was later joined by Figs together with whom I attended all five days of a test against Australia, albeit with lunchtime visits to Crocker's to lubricate the tonsils.

So now its SWMBO, who eased into the seat which Figs had to vacate when the tests started to clash with his role at the Wimbledon tennis. We have seen many changes. The ground has been developed extensively with new grandstands, Mound stand and Compton and Edrich stands. Spectators can no longer sit on the grass around the perimeter, and sadly Crocker's is no more.

I have been lucky enough to see the Ashes won and lost, the West Indies black wash,  the great and good from each Country, and some of the bad. Moments of genius from Clive Lloyd, Sir Viv Richards, Sir Richard Hadlee and Sir Ian Botham have been peppered with moments of madness and high jinks the pinnacle of which was a day in a box with Rillo and the Red Stripe girls.

So I am now 50 not out, time to take a fresh guard and push on to the century.

Tour d'France

Number one son has just completed an amazing journey. For the last week he has been part of a cycle group who have traveled from London to Monte Carlo. They have done it on behalf of the Wooden Spoon Society, a charity founded in the rugby community whose aim is to bring help and support to young children from deprived areas either by sports therapy or by enhancing school facilities.

Do view his Facebook page   to follow his story, and if you are inclined please make a donation here.Note the links are not forward loading at the most but hopefully you can work out how to get there.

He was a casual cyclist who started his training around Richmond Park where cyclists in their 50's and 60's pedalled past him, but he got his miles up to about 35 per day by the time he started. It was still a shock though as the stages were an average of 90 miles long.

It got him through the first week but then came three days in the Alps. Just look at the route profiles to see why the pelaton fragmented and it was everyone for themselves. That said,  the whole group made it, and the coast downhill into Monaco must have been wonderful.

Allez mon fils, there I got it right that time.

Its day 9....

In the Mexican Big Brother house. Simon and SWMBO are on the beach, Jackie and Mark are snorkeling and Dave and Lesley are going for their lunch.

So far Big Brother has not evicted any of the housemates, although it was a close run thing on day 4 when SWMBO fell during the dressing up task and broke her elbow.

The BB medical team patched her up and she was straight back into the fray.

Simon was called to the diary room and warned that any more high jinks would result in him being asked to be official sun cream application monitor for the group, and be banned from the gym.

The anticipated hurricane passed to the West of the BB house so the excited American residents have returned to the beach from their shelters.

Tomorrow Big Brother has arranged drinking games in Playa Del Carmen for the residents, we can't wait.

Shedding pounds

Back stuck into building work this week, as the shed continues to take shape. All the brickwork is finished and the base is now laid, so I am confident the timberwork will be able to start at the weekend.

The sunny weather is certainly helping the concrete to set, and given the location of the site, it is not in full sun all day which will mean the muck will not go off too quickly.

The woodwork will tax my geometric capabilities and does make me wonder how they get all the parts for something like The Shard to all fit together. It does help to have the right tools, and I may have to solicit some help from the family when the structure needs to be placed in situ. That might be a bit of a struggle although if I suggest to Kieran that his dinner is ready in the garden that may get him outside.


He has started running and swimming big style, so I suspect he has his eye on a local filly in one of the hostilities he frequents. I think its the equivalent of ladies losing weight, having their hair done and starting to go out more regularly.....er, hang on a minute.........

Hong Kong Fui

Just back from a long weekend in Hong Kong, to watch the Barbarians v The British and Irish Lions in their curtain raiser to the tour of Australia.

It might seem a long way to go for a rugby match, but I had never seen the Lions, and we went with my sister-in-law and her husband, David and Michelle, who lived there in the late 90's. David was in the Army at that time, and was last one out switch the lights off when the former British territory was handed over to the Chinese.

The temperature for the game was about 32 degrees with humidity at 96% so it was pretty hard going for the two teams. The HK rugby authorities did a good job with the hospitality and match presentation , so all the spectators had a good time. Many were there just for the one off, including a group from the Gurkha regiment in Brunei, this lass from Wales, though was in it for the long hall.


Hong Kong are building a new stadium now on the site of the old airport at Kai Tak which will have air conditioning under its retractable roof, so that could see the Lions doing more one-off games in the future.

The attraction to Westerners of Hong Kong has often been the shopping opportunities in Stanley market and other places, rummaging for end of run and sample products from designer brands which use China for their product production. Sadly this aspect of island life would appear to be diminishing as the work moves to mainland China, so if we go again, we may have to travel to Shenzhen to do our shopping.

Other than that, there were opportunities to dine at a 31st floor Australian steak restaurant, and subsequently drink on their rooftop terrace, Fat Angelo's Italian has turned into a Pizza Hut type chain so that was a bit disappointing, but the usual array for Chinese and Thai outlets more than made up for that one blip.

So all in all a great few days, now its back to shed building.