Report by Boys Under 18 Manager Gerald Duddy;
Glorious sunshine, squally and blustery showers and occasional hail showers were the order of the day at the beautiful Sandy Lodge GC as the Boys U18 team opened their league campaign with two wins against Middlesex and BB&O on Sunday 26th May.
Although the 8-0 win against near neighbours Middlesex sounds one sided, and which included commanding wins for home club star Antoni Hawkins (8&6), Nate Warren (8&6), some of the other games were much closer. Finlay Rennie turned a two down deficit through 11 holes into a narrow 2&1 victory, whilst another home club player, Castor Morris, was taken all the way to the 18th green before securing his win with a solid par. The other wins were secured by West Herts duo Ronnie Gibb (4&3)and Oscar Freeman (3&1), Bishop Stortford’s Ben Sessions (5&3) and by Patrick Donovan of Welwyn Garden City, who was a late replacement for fellow club mate Harry Cox who had made the cut at the Brabazon Trophy late on Saturday evening, by a margin of 4&3.
The match against BB&O was a much closer affair. The aforementioned Hawkins and Warren were in inspired form and again recorded resounding wins by 6&5 and 8&6 respectively. Finlay dispensed with his opponent by a score of 5&4 to put Herts ahead early. Despite fighting back from 2 down with 4 to play, Ben eventually succumbed to his opponent on the 18th green. Likewise, Patrick found the going tough against his opponent and lost by 3&1 margin. With the first 5 matches finished Herts lead by 3 wins to two. However, the final 3 matches were to prove decisive and even when Oscar completed a 3&1 victory to secure the 4th win, an overall win was not guaranteed. In match 7, Ronnie was in a tense battle and when his opponent holed a near 25ft putt on the 17th to get back to all square the game was delicately poised. A solid iron shot into the par 3 finishing hole and a clumsy chip by his opponent gave Ronnie a putt for the win which came up just short but not conceded. When his opponent duly holed another 20ft putt, the ever-steady Ronnie calmly holed from a foot to secure a half and edge us over the winning line. In the anchor game, Castor also turned a deficit into a standing on the 16th tee into a half thanks to two solid pars and a birdie on the 17th hole which meant an overall result of 5 wins to 3.
On behalf of the management team and match day squad, I’d like to thank David and the team at Sandy Lodge for their incredible hospitality on the day and to those who came to support the team.
Click below to view the full match results;
U18 League Result Sheet v Middlesex and BB0 Sunday 26th May
Pictured below are Ben Sessions (top) and Finlay Rennie (bottom) in action on the 1st tee of their matches
