Shelter Island sailing masters win Gardiner’s Bay Country Club’s first tourney of season

Gardiner’s Bay Country Club held our first major of the golfing calendar this weekend, The Manhanset Matchplay.

The tournament is named after the famed hotel that stood proudly on the bluffs of Hay Beach at the turn of the 19th Century. Framed pieces of art are the trophies, which each member of the team of two receives.

Our members were divided into flights by handicap level and all teams in the flights of four played against each other, so three 9-hole matches were played in each flight.  

This provides us with flight winners and then all flight winners compete in a sudden death playoff on our “Cauldron of Pressure,” the 9th hole. A wonderful amphitheater to get the nerves jangling. 

However, no pressure was too great to perturb the solid golf swing of John C.G. Brownlie.  A stunning six iron to 12 feet from the cup set up a slippery downhiller for his partner Andrew Ward. Andrew teased his putt down the fast green and coaxed it beside the hole for John to tap in.