First match of 2009 and possibly the coldest ever with frozen greens and frosted fairways but certainly not severe enough to keep the Muffins in bed - apart from Cutie-Cutie that is, who having been invisible for several weeks, has become some sort of virtual Muffin.

Fat-Boy does the necessary and Mr. Grumpy, Nance and Turbo constitute Team 1 followed by Brett, Fat-Boy, DJ and Tate as Team 2. The key to scoring is to hit approach shots into the green about 20 yards short and then rely on Lady Luck, but the hardest part of the morning is actually getting a tee peg into the ground. In short it's a lottery and one that Nance appears to have no chance of winning.

Never was a black pudding and sausage sandwich (cut into two equal halves please) more welcome and with uncharacteristic scoring accuracy, the Teams are level at halfway, 32 points apeice.

Tate's had a slow start but over 6 holes from the 7th to the 12th, collects 16 points including a couple of 4's to transform his round. He wins the individual honours with a 33 point total and assists his colleagues to come away with £3. Mr. Grumpy and Turbo - who once again masters the icy conditions - share equal 2nd place. But Turbo mars this with 16 camels and Brett, whose winter bubble seems to have burst, also collects 15 courtesy of a duff chip and bad bounce on the 18th.

All in all a satisfactory morning in testing conditions.