The SCC: June 2008

Friday 27 June 2008

SCC2009 to Visit Pennard

It is with great pleasure that Captain B Williams can officially confirm that The Second City Challenge 2009 will be hosted by Pennard Golf Club, in South Wales.

Located 8 miles west of Swansea in the Gower Peninsula in an area of outstanding natural beauty, Golf has been played at Pennard since 1896. The holes are routed over classically undulating and tumbling linksland, full of hummocks, hillocks and hollows and pocked with dunes large and small. Yet this exceptional terrain is not beside the shore as would be generally expected of a classic links - it is two hundred feet above it and for this reason Pennard is affectionately known as "the links in the sky."

Pennard GC has been voted in the top 100 courses in the British Isles for the past 3 years and is currently rated as the fourth best course in Wales. Although Pennard has hosted a number of prestigious events in recent years, the capture of SCC2009 is likely to be rated as a major highlight in the long history of the club.

Players will be receiving invitations in due course, with the event scheduled to take place over the weekend of Friday 26th June 2009. Following the success of SCC2008, the revised format will continue, consisting of two rounds on Friday followed by one on Saturday. As is tradition, Team Birmingham the reigning champions, will tee off first on Friday morning. Tee times will be made available shortly.

Accommodation for the players is currently being reviewed. It is likely that a suitable establishment will be chosen in Mumbles, a short drive from Pennard. Details of this will be made available when appropriate.

SCC History

The idea of an annual golfing challenge between Birmingham and Manchester was first proposed at some time over the Christmas of 2005. Since that time, two-ball teams have fought over a gruelling weekend for the honour of calling their city ‘Britain’s Second City’.

Royal Nefyn Golf Course in North Wales hosted the first competition over the Easter of 2006.

The representatives of Birmingham, Nicholas Brooker and Benjamin Williams fought to the last hole of an intense weekend of golf, over three rounds, only to succumb to a world-class put on the final hole from Peter Bramwell, representing Manchester. Neil Guyton, the other member of the Manchester pairing carded an estimated two under par for the final round to help the Mancunians to the title of Britain’s Second City, 2006.

The success of the competition in its fledgling year was enough to generate interest from other cities around the country believing they can stake a claim to the title of Britain’s Second City.

The competition moved to Royal St Davids in 2007 and witnessed a swelling in competitor numbers with the introduction of groups from Liverpool and Nottingham. Mathew Atkinson playing for Liverpool and Simon Porter and Dominic Williams playing for Nottingham were unable to mount any sort of a challenge in the new format competition. Manchester retained their crown after another tense final hole in which Nottingham could have won either the title or wooden spoon. They ended up with the latter. Birminghams challenge was dealt a cruel blow as Ben Williams was struck down by tonsilitus.

SCC2008 was hosted by Averdovey over a cold and windy April weekend. For the first time, competitor numbers were at capacity with the addition of Chris Seddon to the Liverpool team. As seems to be the tradition with the competition, the title went to the last hole where Birmingham held their nerve against a rejuvinated Nottingham pairing. Liverpool collected the wooden spoon.

SCC2009 tooks the competitors to South Wales and the Pennard Golf Club, near Swansea. With a surge of golf club membership over the summer, the event promised to dish up golf of an even higher quality than had been witnessed so far. However, the extreme challenge presented by Pennard reduced the competetors to wrecks of the former golfers they once were! Manchester secured their 3rd title at the 16th hole of the final round against a highly competitive Team Liverpool. Birmingham narrowly beat Liverpool to second place with a final round victory over the wooden spoon winners Nottingham.

2010 was a big year for the SCC. The 5th year anniversary competition saw the teams take on a the new challenge of Tenby Golf Course. In a break with tradition, this years captain was elected from outside of the original foursome and all agreed than Matkinson did an excellent job. Neil Guytons absence from the Team Manchester line up did little to change the recent trend. Pet Bumwell, partnered by Matt Miller, chalked up another victory on the excellent Tenby track. The only thing counting against the course was the huge journies faced by all.

2011 saw Nick take up the captaincy reigns. The SCC went back to it's roots and introduced Nottingham and Liverpool to the wonders of the old course at Neffyn.

2012 is a seminal year in the history of the competition. The format and name were both changed in order to expand the number of competitors to 9. The Second City Challenge from this point on became simply The SCC. The new competition now pitches 3 3-ball teams against each other, drawn according to handicap this year, but in future years based upon performance in the previous years competition. The first test of the new competition was held at Pyle and Kenfig. 'Getting blobby' was born amidst some high scoring as a result of the usual SCC weather.

2013 took The SCC to North Wales Golf Club, Llandudno in the hope of providing a slightly less harsh golfing test for the players. The rain and wind stayed away for the most part and scores were must improved. An early target for best individual score was set by B Williams of 46 points (off a handicap of 20).

Friday 27 June 2008

SCC2009 to Visit Pennard

Thursday 19 June 2008

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