There has been a fantastic turn out for the Investec Structured Products Open 2010, as IFAs have vied to prove their golfing prowess in a nationwide competition. With a final to be played at Turnberry on 12 October the attraction is obvious. Here we profile winners of the first four qualifiers.
Local knowledge
Describing himself as “quite a keen golfer” Eric Sim, IFA with Atholl Scott in Aberdeen, won the Cruden Bay leg of the Investec Structured Products Open 2010.
“I don’t play as often as I would like, maybe two to three times a month, so I was definitely not expecting to win,” he admits. “I used to play a lot many years ago and started to play again last year, but I play for fun these days.”
The Cruden Bay Golf Club, near Aberdeen, provides a tough course, and Eric believes the fact he had played it on several occasions gave him an edge on the day.
“I think luck was on my side because it is quite a difficult course and any stranger to it would probably lose quite a few golf balls over the eighteen holes.
“My advantage was knowing there are certain holes where you have to be careful and not use a driver, but most people’s instinct is to hit the ball as far as they can.
“That’s what golf is all about, trying to manage your way around the course.”
Eric’s luck held with some of his shots too, he admits. “I hit some shots that didn’t go straight and they caught a lucky bounce. Even my playing partners commented on it. They put it down to local knowledge.”
A confidence boost at the fourth hole may also have helped his game, he adds.
“We were playing against the club professional at that hole. You had to tee off and try to beat the pro – you won golf balls if you did. I managed to hit closer than the local professional. That was a good feeling.”
Although playing to a handicap of 10, he says: “I really do just play for fun now, so I was over the moon to have won this round of the competition.”
When he does play, Eric frequents the links course at Newburgh, not far from Aberdeen.
“It’s about three miles along the coast from where Donald Trump is building a new golf course.
Newburgh is the next course along,” Eric says. “Now that I’ve won this I’m sure Mr Trump will be on the phone inviting me to try it out. That’s probably the only way I am going to get to play on it; the word is it is going to be quite expensive.”
Playing in a handicap competition “can be tough” when you are holding a handicap of 10 or below, Eric says. “Often you are up against people whose handicap is much too high and it doesn’t always match the way that person plays.
“When I came off the course I knew I’d had a steady round but I really didn’t think it would be good enough to win. Given it is a tough course and the fact I didn’t lose any golf balls, maybe I should have had greater faith.”
A financial adviser for 11 years, Eric joined Atholl Scott, an Aberdeen city centre IFA firm, earlier in the year, advising mainly on pensions and investments.
Previously he worked for Heath Lambert.
Alongside golf, Eric is a keen Aberdeen FC supporter. “I have been watching them since I was a boy and I get to a match as often as I can, family commitments allowing.”
Having attended the first match of the current season when Aberdeen won 4-0 he is hopeful for their chances. “Then again,” he adds, “Aberdeen supporters are still living on the back of having won the European Cup Winners Cup in 1983.”
But what of his own chances in the final stage of the competition, when local knowledge will not play a part?
He says: “The prize for me is playing at Turnberry. I’ve never played on a course of that stature before and I am really looking forward to it.”
Pressure on the 18th
Geoff Clarke reckons he played his second best round of golf this year to win the qualifier at the Royal Portrush Golf Club – Dunluce Links, Northern Ireland.
Geoff first swung a golf club when he was 13 but his attention turned to hockey until his mid 20s when he started playing “more seriously”, he says. He has been a member of the Malone Golf Club on the outskirts of Belfast for 12 years, getting in “one or two games a week”. He was playing off a handicap of 9 but says he “played a lot of bad golf last year” to finish with a handicap of 11, which has since dropped to 12.
Royal Portrush Golf Club he ranks as “magnificent – it has some of the most picturesque golf holes that I’ve played. If you get the weather it’s a fantastic course but that’s never guaranteed in Northern Ireland. I have played a couple of times in stormy conditions and then it is tricky to say the least.”
Fortunately, the day of the competition proved fair. “In fact apart from a little bit of wind, you couldn’t have had the course under more benign conditions”, Geoff says.
The Portrush course has no trees but some very deep bunkers. “There are one or two reminiscent of St Andrews where once you get in it will take you a while to get back out again,” Geoff warns those looking to play there.
There was one tricky moment on the day, he recalls. “On hole 15, a relatively short par 4, where you hit over a rise, I drove off quite well but coming over the rise I could not find my ball for a while. That was an awkward moment.”
He had an inkling he was in with a chance to win at the ninth hole. “For once I was hitting off the tee well and getting myself some good positions. We were the last group around and we were told if we were in the teens we were in contention. So going into the second round I thought if I can continue doing what I’m doing then I should be in with a good shout.”
The most nerve-wracking hole was the 18th where, knowing a win could be on the cards, the pressure piled on.
“But I was fortunate enough to finish with the ball I started with and never to find a bunker the whole day, which helped me at every hole and was important in getting the score that I did.”
Needless to say I was delighted to win, particularly with such a great prize at stake. If you are a keen golfer then Turnberry is on your wish list of courses to play. It’s a fantastic opportunity.”
While playing Turnberry may be prize enough, how does he rate his chances of winning on the day?
“Using the handicap system everyone has a similar chance but what I am hoping for is fair weather, which will favour people with a higher handicap. I suppose my chances are as good as anyone else’s as long as it doesn’t rain!”
Managing director of FGS Wealth Management Ltd, part of FGS McClure Watters, a chartered accountancy firm in Belfast, Geoff was brought in to spin out the advice arm into a limited company. Prior to that he worked within Standard Life and Scottish Widows, latterly in a broker consultant role. A Chartered Financial Planner, Geoff is Regional Vice Chairman and a regional Chartered Champion of the PFS in Northern Ireland and an Associate of the IFP.
Six hours in the rain
A six-hour round in pouring rain provided Andrew Farr, winner of the qualifier on the Twenty Ten course at Celtic Manor, with a game he will not forget in a hurry.
“I have been a member of the Twenty Ten Club at Celtic Manor since it opened three years ago, playing there once a week, and I can honesty say they were the toughest conditions I have ever played in there – the weather was atrocious.”
Having played seriously for around 6 years, Andrew plays off a 12 handicap. In those weather conditions, knowing the course undoubtedly was an advantage but it was more a mental state, a matter of toughing it out, that helped him win, he says. “You had to put your head down and get on with it. I knew in those conditions it wouldn’t be a high score that won it.
“It is a very difficult course. It’s long and you have to be very accurate. The rough will penalise you and if you are out of position you are not going to par.”
Andrew highlights the 14th hole, a signature hole, as well as the last three holes as ones where his game really came together. This proved fortuitous, as he won the round on countback. “There were three of us with the same scores for the last nine holes, two for the last six holes and as I had the best score for the last three holes, I went through.”
An IFA for 22 years, with 10 years spent working in the Middle East and on the Continent, Andrew set up his own company Oakwood Financial Planning in 2003. Cardiff based with an affiliate in Bournemouth in Hampshire, Oakwood mainly deals with high net worth clients.
Andrew is highly complementary of the Twenty Ten course, situated near Newport in South Wales, and would recommend it to all keen golfers.
“Some of the greens were flooding but within half an hour of the sun coming out the water disappeared because the drainage is fantastic. It is a fabulous course – one of the best in the UK. As one of my friends said to me, playing golf here is like playing football at Wembley.
“Gareth Edwards, ex rugby star and captain of the Twenty Ten Club, stood up recently at an event and said he had played at some of the best courses all over the world and it brought home to him how lucky we are to have a match play course on our doorstep.
“It is designed for the Ryder Cup, and it will be a great venue for the competition this month.”
Like all other winners of the qualifiers so far, Andrew is looking forward to playing at Turnberry.
“I played there once before, many years ago and it was fantastic. I can’t wait to play there again.”
Scratch handicap
An occasional player at Gleneagles over the past two years, John Yuille, has noted the improvements being made to the course in the run up to the Ryder Cup being held there in 2014. “Frankly, as a course I thought it was quite poor but they have made some decent improvements all round. It’s not going to be as good as some of the courses the Cup has played on in the past but it will be good to have it here in Scotland. Hopefully, we’ll have a decent competition in 2014,” he says.
John’s father was a professional player in Edinburgh, which meant John was introduced early to the game and he has continued playing ever since. A member of the Royal Burgess Golfing Society in Edinburgh, he says if he can get a couple of games in a week during the summer then he is “happy”. He looks to get a practice game in during the week and a game proper at the weekend. However, with family commitments “of course, it doesn’t always turn out like that,” he adds.
This has not stopped John playing what he terms, “a bit of competitive amateur golf”, and he has won local and regional competitions. His handicap is scratch, which means he was not expecting to win the Gleneagles round of the competition.
“These kinds of corporate competitions don’t usually favour scratch golfers; it’s a handicapped event. For this reason I usually turn them down, but this event being at Gleneagles and with corporate hospitality laid on by Investec, I thought I would make an exception.”
Having played the course before John was fairly relaxed about it, “in fact as we were going round both myself the guy I was playing with thought we weren’t doing that well. Our view was ‘well, we’re not going to win anything here today’ so we didn’t really feel there was any pressure on us.” That, he thinks, played to his advantage.
“But, to be honest, I was quite surprised to win,” he admits.
Apart from golf, John lists cycling and swimming among his hobbies, “as well as all the activities you have to undertake when you have kids,” he adds.
Now self employed, John has been 10 years an IFA and 10 years before that in direct sales. He works in Edinburgh under the Dunedin umbrella.
Specialising in investment and retirement, he says he is seeing a move to guaranteed products “taking the risk and volatility out of the advice you are giving clients”.
Among structured products, John favours deposit style structures. “They have played a useful role as a cash alternative, being able to deliver greater returns than a client would be able to get out of a normal bank or building society savings account. It’s for this we use them in the main.”
John’s surprise at coming through the Gleneagles round of the competition aside, given his scratch handicap what does he consider are his chances of winning the Investec Structured Products Open 2010. He says: “These events will always favour the higher handicap golfers. But if the weather’s bad it might work to my advantage – as well for other lower handicap golfers there. I suppose that’s what I have to hope for.”
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