2021 Season

2021 — Another Challenging Year

Following the disruption of 2020, 2021 proved to be another challenging year for Le Tournoi, with terrible weather wiping out the January, February and March events.

Thankfully, the season began to get back on track in April, with events continuing throughout the remainder of the year. This allowed the Society to complete its full programme of four Majors and once again contest the Order of Merit.

Darren Howard claimed the 2021 Order of Merit title with an impressive 29 points.

Throughout its history, the Le Tournoi committee has always sought to make decisions in the best interests of the Society, responding to whatever challenges and circumstances it faced. Not every decision will necessarily look perfect with the benefit of hindsight, but each was made with the intention of doing what was right for Le Tournoi at the time.

The decision made in 2021 was a particularly unusual one. Despite eight events eventually being played, the committee determined that only the best four scoring rounds would count towards the Division One and Division Two League titles, rather than the traditional five.

This was especially curious given that, in 2020, only seven events had been played due to the disruption caused by COVID, yet the usual five counting rounds had still been retained. Indeed, 2021 remains the only season in Le Tournoi's history in which just four rounds counted towards the League championships.

With hindsight, reducing the number of counting rounds perhaps wasn't the wisest decision, particularly given the impact it would ultimately have on the final standings. Nevertheless, the committee had its reasons at the time and was undoubtedly attempting to act in the best interests of the Society. Whatever we might think looking back, that was the decision made, and it is only right that the historical record reflects the rules applied that year.

Perhaps, then, 2021 deserves an asterisk alongside it, much like Liverpool's Premier League title during the COVID era!

The impact of the four-round decision was significant. Ciaran Rowe claimed the Division One title under the four-round system, although had the usual five rounds counted, Jarrod Gowland-Smith would have been crowned champion instead.

Division Two also saw a change to the final honours. The standings had previously been presented using five counting rounds, with Kris Van Haeften taking the title and Darren Howard finishing runner-up. Recalculating the season using the committee's four-round decision preserved Kris Van Haeften's championship but saw Adam Chambers move into second place at Darren Howard's expense.

The unusual circumstances of the season may also help explain some of the rather curious promotions, relegations and retained places recorded at the end of 2021. It appears that the committee may have been attempting to maintain a reasonable balance between the two divisions, rather than relying solely on finishing positions.

Consequently, some players appear to have retained their divisional places despite limited participation, while others moved between divisions even though the final League tables might suggest more obvious candidates for promotion or relegation.

Unfortunately, the precise reasoning behind these decisions was not recorded. We have therefore preserved the historical movements as they occurred, rather than attempting to rewrite them according to what might now seem more logical.

Ultimately, 2021 was a season in which the committee faced difficult circumstances, made decisions with the best intentions and did its best to keep Le Tournoi moving forward. With hindsight, some of those decisions might have been made differently, but they were part of the Society's history and deserve to be remembered in that context — even if the resulting League tables still raise the occasional eyebrow!