Wow, what a momentous day at Royal St. George's! The Tough-It-Out tourney has seen some serious action today.
There are now just 6 players left to finish, a group near the top of the leaderboard, and also Wassernixe further down, who might now need a marker. Would any of our White Rabbit contingent care to help out?
I've just been able to barely get online enough today to update the Leaderboard and special prizes tabs so that contenders could see where things stand, but am now finally catching up properly with today's play.
Starting at the top of the leaderboard... Hans, what a shock to see your first ever Tough-It-Out round over par. It's a testament to your extraordinary dominance of this tourney that it comes as such a surprise to see you struggle. However, your overall finish of -5 over 72 holes is a phenomenal achievement: in conditions as hard as they get on WGT, to post a true Major-winning score, is superb going. I'll be dreaming of how to possibly score a 64 to catch you, but the reality is that you've almost certainly secured a hugely impressive defense of your title.
[I didn't think that WGT had done any more updates, after their one on Wednesday night, and I hadn't noticed any changes to the unevens since then... Anyone else think they've been tweaked?]
However, Hans' poor round (for him, not for the rest of us mortals!) has made things very interesting in all our fascinating Special Prize awards...
Hans has slipped to 2nd in the GIR standings, and Mizzy can hold on to his current 1st place with a 67% score (12 greens in regulation), but also in contention are Neil (for whom a 77% score, 14 greens, might be enough), and Cerino (for whom 83%, 15 greens, would do it).
Phaxda:I did not miss any greens on purpose but hit a couple close anyway. Really hoping that I can beat Hans at something.. :)
I love playing this way, bring on the next tourney!
Well, Phil, you seem to have clinched it! Congratulations! For the Ave. Distance to the Pin award, your great score of 22.3ft has put you well clear. (Theoretically, I could overtake you if I get less than 6ft in round 4, but that'll never happen!)
And Phil too seems certain to be one of our two winners (alongside Shiner, most likely) of the Greatest Improvement award (with honorable mentions to Woodo, Daboofness, and Mati).
Hans' incredible total of 19 birdies across the 4 rounds is something none of the remaining players can possibly catch, although he (and any of the other top 3 finishers) is ineligible for the Most Birdies prize , which seems likely to go to Woodo (Gary) who was clearly showing the way to tame RSG with 5 birdies in the first 8 holes before getting cruelly sidetracked...
In Least Bogeys it's all still to play for. Hans has the clubhouse lead with 14 (but again, will be ineligible for the actual prize). Neil, Corwyn, Cerino, Mizzy and Ben all stand a chance of winning this one, if they can keep scrambling pars when needed at RSG.
The Longest total distance of putts seems to have had a fitting climax. Unless I can come up with something absolutely unprecedented, Gary's amazing putting throughout the tourney appears to have pipped Hans at the wire. Woodo got a 140.77 total in this last round to creep ahead of Hans by a mere 7ft. I don't know if they knew it (as Gary marked for Hans' round), but it probably came down to a single putt missed...
And don't forget, Ben and Cerino are also trying to get down in 1 or 2 putts on every green. They're the only 2 left in the running to try for our final prize, No 3-Putts in the whole tourney.
And there's still Shiner's prize for an Eagle at RSG, which no-one has yet achieved. That's a tough ask for sure!
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Thank you everyone, for all your kind words about the tourney!
Do please keep checking in to see how everything turns out (including of course, Hans' coaching prize to a random winner), and to share any further reflections on what you've learned playing this format, and what you'd like to see next.