2024 Season

A Breakthrough Year for Gary Slater

The 2024 season saw Gary Slater claim his first Order of Merit title, marking a significant milestone in his Le Tournoi career. Steve Pass finished runner-up, with Steve Hutton taking third place.

The final Order of Merit standings also corrected an error in the originally published results, which had placed Steve Hutton second. A review of the individual Major results before their inclusion on the website confirmed that Steve Pass had actually earned second place, moving Steve Hutton into third.

A New Era for the League Championship

The 2024 season also marked a significant change in the Society's League structure, with the long-standing two-division format replaced by one consolidated League Championship.

For several years, the Society had tried to maintain two balanced divisions, with roughly equal numbers of players to ensure everyone had a fair opportunity to compete for their respective titles. However, fluctuating attendance and the number of players failing to meet the minimum qualification requirements made this increasingly difficult.

Each season brought another challenge in balancing the divisions. Promotions were sometimes determined as much by players dropping out of Division One as by performances in Division Two, while Division Two increasingly became a home for irregular attendees and players who struggled to qualify through sufficient appearances.

Over time, the traditional promotion and relegation system had lost much of its purpose, with strong performances not always reflected in the following season's divisional arrangements.

The decision was therefore made to bring everyone together into a single League from 2024, providing a simpler, fairer and more meaningful competition in which all eligible players competed for the same championship.

To support this change, the League points system was also revised. The points awarded for winning an event increased from 20 to 25, allowing points to be distributed further down the leaderboard, particularly at events with larger fields. This helped ensure that more players could earn League points while maintaining a meaningful reward for finishing towards the top.

The Society also decided to reduce the League season to eight events, running from March through to October, with the Christmas Society event scheduled separately for late November or early December. This decision was partly driven by several years of poor winter weather, with events in January, February and even December frequently disrupted or cancelled because of unsuitable playing conditions. By concentrating competitive events into the more favourable months, the Society hoped to reduce cancellations, improve attendance and make the calendar more reliable, while helping to secure the long-term future of Le Tournoi.

In the first season under this new format, Ciaran Rowe emerged victorious, adding another season-long honour to his Le Tournoi record.

With eight League events, including three Majors, 2024 marked both a new chapter in the Society's League history and a memorable year for its champions, highlighted by Gary Slater's maiden Order of Merit triumph and Ciaran Rowe's League Championship success.