John Ling Match
Report from Nigel Brown, Captain of the ‘John Ling’ team
‘I am sorry to report that we lost our John Ling match v Royal Mid Surrey Artisans 3-2. Two of our pairs won easily and of the other three, two lost on the 17th and our top pairing Roy Martin and Frank de Freitas on the 19th to a birdie. Some of us (your correspondent included) did not have our best game and in particular had problems on the big and slow greens. Still, we are in the Plate competition, but at the minute I haven’t got any details about that. I will report back when we do’.
Captain and Pro
Our Captain and Pro challengers this last weekend were Danny Gesua and Alec Lever. We knew beforehand that the challenge would be stiff and so it proved when Alec started with a par 4, net birdie to win the hole. We turned abruptly as we heard the engine roar and saw the famous red chassis of Danny’s buggy heading towards us – we had interrupted his ‘breakfast banquet’ to insist he played golf with us!
The quality golf continued with Alec driving the ball superbly well. Thank goodness Ricky Pharo made his usual birdie at the 2nd (three rounds running now!) to force a halved hole. The match swung back and forth with never more than one hole in it until a run of birdies at 9, 10, 11 and 12 took the Captain and Professional into a 3 up lead which proved to be good enough to close out the match 4/2. Thanks so much to Danny and Alec for their fantastic company – whoever draws these chaps in the knockouts face stern challenges!
Congratulations firstly to brothers Ollie and Dave Rimmer on their fantastic win in the Men’s Winter Foursomes over Iain Welsh and Matthew Woolston. I’ll also congratulate Dan and Liz Kershaw for their win in the Syd Scott Foursomes. In a very sporting gesture, Dan and Liz approached me in the bar and explained that, despite the ‘live leader board’ showing they had won, they thought they had received too many handicap shots! A flurry of messages to and from Louis showed that the handicap allowance was correct and they were indeed the winners of the Syd Scott. I am delighted for them and the joy was clear from their faces!
This busy weekend on Sunday 7th May we will be running roll ups in both the morning and afternoon. Justin Thesiger is managing the morning roll up – usual form – meet in the Club Café at 7.30am, final entries by 7.45am when the draw is made, first group out at 8am. The afternoon rollup will be run by Claire Martin and Lou Tierney. Please meet in the Member’s Bar at 12.30pm with the draw being made at 12.45pm and play beginning at 1pm. In both the morning and afternoon, we play in groups of three (where possible) to keep pace of play to a leisurely 3.45 hours. On bank holiday Monday we will hold the annual match which pits the best of the Ladies against the Mens team. Charlotta has fielded an incredibly deep team so with 14 fourball betterball matches to be completed, may the best team win and acquire bragging rights for the next year!
P.S. I understand Danny’s breakfast banquet was kedgeree, toasted sour dough and a light Trocken …
Simon Butler, Men’s Golf Captain
