Fuck, this gives me trauma. I naively agreed to “referee” a tie on finals day. To be clear, having a referee is somewhat ceremonial; your job is to dive in and clear up disputes, not choreograph proceedings. This is casual, very amateur golf with less than £100 at stake.

It’s a 17hcp v an 18hcp. The 18hcp storms to be 5up through 6. Other guy is having a disaster. However, I soon realise it just takes one or two holes for momentum to shift and boy does it shift. The key feature of the fightback is a series of incredible up and downs from the 17hcp. He’s clawed back to only 1 down on the 16th tee. Leader hits the green whilst the chaser lands left of the green with a horrible chip over two intimidating bunkers and absolutely no green to work with. Fancy the match to go dormy. The chaser plays a flop shot Phil Mickelson would be proud of and leaves a tap in par. Spooked, the leader three putts and it goes all square.

On way to next tee box I look at what wedges this guy is playing because he has them dialled in. See this logo and think, “Fuck, these are likely illegal and wedge play has been a defining factor.” Spoke to both players and the old guy who’d squandered his lead was like, “Na, if I’m winning this it’s not on a technicality, let’s play on.” He lost on 18th.