If England can battle through the Azteca heat and come away smiling, perhaps we shouldn’t have been surprised that a scorching day at The Lakes produced some equally heroic performances. While some say the heat brings out the worst in people, our Seniors clearly had other ideas—it brought out the very best.

Four players fired 40 points or better, with Kev Palmer leading Division 1 on a superb 42 points, finishing ahead of Dominic Freeman on 40 and Jeff Rowlands on 39. Over in Division 2, Robert Perriam produced the round of the day with a magnificent 43 points, leaving Rex Carpenter three points behind on 40, while Andy Steege’s encouraging run of form continued with 39 points and deserved podium finish.

With scoring that hot, you’d have expected the Twos Pot to be emptied quicker than the halfway house after nine holes. Instead, only four players shared the spoils. Sam Heal managed the rare double dip by adding the par-4 16th to his collection, while Martyn Leigh, Tony Feerick and Kevin Farminer also found a reason to smile on the way home.

In a twist worthy of a football fairy tale, as England marched into the World Cup quarter-finals, Team “It’s Coming Home” climbed to the top of the Digital Divots Summer League. The question now is whether, just like England, they can keep the winning run alive.

Next week it’s back to business with Round 6 of the Eclectic. There’ll be fresh optimism on the first tee, plenty of confident talk in the car park, and by the 3rd hole someone will almost certainly be insisting they “never normally hit it there.”