Warwickshire Golf
BOYS v NOTTS MATCH REPORT
Sunday 12 March 2017
This is our traditional season opener and is the County Boys team only ‘friendly’ match, not that this dampens the competitive drive of either side! This year, the match was played at Mapperley Golf Club on the north side of Nottingham. The weather was cold with a moderate breeze, but much better than it can be at this time of year. The course was very hilly and wet underfoot following recent rains, so placing was in force and ‘pick-clean-and-drop’ permitted in the rough.
The morning foursomes always looked close and ended well for Warwickshire with a 4-2 result. The important match being that of Luke Greene & Cameron Bridger, who came back from 3 down to win 2&1, Very pleasing as Cameron was playing his first match for a Warwickshire County team. Our other debutant, Matt Paden, also took his morning Foursomes point.
The singles began badly and we were soon down in most matches, some considerably. The Captain, Tom Cleaton, was playing an England-squad man in Jake Benson and had a fine tussle of high quality only to lose the 16th and, despite a good chance, failing to regain it at the 17th. A couple of pars at the last meant 1 down. Tom was 2 under par, pretty good in these conditions. Both Josh Davenport and Tom Charley found themselves well behind (Tom dormie 4) but both fought back to lose at the last as well! The next three matches never looked like gaining a point, with good golf from Notts, but Luke Greene, from 4 down began to show his usual fighting qualities to be all square after 16, when disaster struck and after hitting the best shot of the day at the par 3 17th, it was followed by, probably, the second best from his opponent, Luke took 3 putts going for the 2 on a treacherous and not good quality green! Two pars at 18 meant another 18th green loss. Next came our two debutants, who were both magnificent and in control all the way. At last 2 points for Warwickshire. We now had to win all three remaining matches to halve overall. Sadly, we did not have to wait too long to hear of Omid Mobed’s defeat in the last match. The other three all performed well, with Lewis Watson gaining a half, but the other two losing, yet again, on the 18th! Notts 9 ½, Warwickshire 6 1/2, with 5 losses going to the last!
Overall result: Notts 11½ Warwicks 6½
Some rust clearly needs to be polished off before the ‘serious’ matches begin, but very encouraging debuts from our two new lads, both with maximum points. A special ‘Well done’ to both!
CLICK THE FOLLOWING LINK FOR THE FULL MATCH CARD Boys v Notts 2017.pdf
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