Inside The Ropes At The 2016 DP World Tour Championship: A Yorkshireman Takes The Spoils

It's great to see a fellow Yorkshireman excel. Today, Matt Fitzpatrick, a young man born in Sheffield, aged just 22, took home a cool £1 million, increasing his season's earnings to just over £3 million! And to think that he is still growing and he is still learning! Apparently, his younger brother is showing all the signs of being a better golfer so a Fitzpatrick domination of the next few years looks a distinct possibility.
It was an exciting finish to a great tournament and of course we also saw Henrik Stenson take home an additional suitcase full of cash, something he has done from Dubai on more than one occasion, for winning the "Race to Dubai". The Earth Course just seems to suit his game.
My final scoring duties today were for a three ball, something that has never happened previously in this tournament and implemented only because of the dense fog predicted by the weatherman here in the desert. He was wrong! It was as usual, a blue sky, sun filled morning without a sign of bad visibility and for the first time this week, I was early out onto the course. It does mean that you get golfers who have no chance of winning but it also means that you don't get big crowds, you get round the course quicker and most important of all, I got lunch for the first time this week!! The medallions of beef went down a treat and I was able to eat leisurely while watching the better golfers thrash it out in the heat of the day.
Yet again I was blessed with a great scoreboard carrier, in today's case, Shiv, who comfortably met the standard of Oliver, Jasper and Eric and if I am back next year, I would quite happily work with all four of them again. Incidentally, not only are the students great, the teachers are pretty impressive as well and a special mention and thanks to Andy, Emma who has such a lovely smile and Laura who comes from Bingley so there's absolutely nowt wrong wi that lass!
The Skipton crew acquitted themselves in fine style as expected. Will they be back next year? We shall see. Of course Paul, our very own "helicopter hero", carries this innate ability to make me cry with laughter whenever I am in his company and this week has been no exception, particularly when for breakfast he fancied fresh fruit ladled with lovely natural yoghurt. In Paul's case, what he understood to be yoghurt was actually cream cheese so in his brief spell here, he has been able to invent a new and never before tried, breakfast treat! I have encouraged both him and his wife Amanda into a scoring role next year but on reflection, I fear for what comedic disasters might occur if he gets hold of the computer and the radio! On the other hand it could be genuinely hilarious so go for it Paul.
So I sit with my delightful hosts, Chris and Ellen, writing my final dispatch before the drive to Abu Dhabi and planned flight home. Actually, they are not hosts, they are family and it has been a joy to spend time with them this week. Ellen's mum comes out for her first visit later this week and dad, Barry won't be out until next February so I have been a very privileged first visitor and I thank them both for that.
Finally, I wrap this particular Blog up with the competition results and like all competition results, the judges have the final say and in this case, that's me! I'm not giving the prize to the people who got it right! Sorry. I'm giving it to the person who made me laugh out loud and that is Skipton Member, David Cairns who reported the golfer that he recognised in Photos 1-10 was Alistair Coy!!! A bottle of fizz coming your way David.
So that's it for another Blog. If you have enjoyed it thank you for reading and if you haven't enjoyed it, well, still, thank you for reading. Spread the word about volunteering to anybody you think would enjoy it. This is one great tournament to work on if you are a volunteer virgin like I was and by all means feel free to e-mail me on alistaircoy@gmail.com if you have any questions.