Warwickshire Golf
BEARS WEATHER A WORCESTERSHIRE STORM
The Warwickshire 2nd Team were looking to replicate their strong performance a month earlier against Derbyshire, with a tricky away fixture to Worcestershire. The Match on Sunday 4th June was hosted by Kidderminster Golf Club.
The Morning Foursomes teed off under a darkening sky, the players had resigned hemselves to getting wet at some point, but hopefully not too wet! Leading Team Warwickshire off was a familiar, and unbeaten pairing Sam Foster (Coventry Hearsall) and Gary Greenway (Maxstoke Park). The pair lead early on and had a 2 up lead through 6 holes. Although their opponents fought back, Sam & Gaz reached the 17th Hole 1up and with Sam slotting home a 20 foot birdie putt, the opening match was secured 2&1, a great start, well done both.
Next off was Chris Laird (The Warwickshire GC) and Paul Walker (Maxstoke Park GC) who didn’t disappoint in match 2, replicating the result of the first match also winning 2&1.
Match 3 saw an all-Olton pairing, Mike Pell partnering Joe Macilwraith. The familiar pair appeared comfortable, and raced into an early lead. However the tide would turn late on, with Worcestershire winning the 16th and 17th holes to square the match. The Worcestershire fight back was complete on the driveable 18th hole, a winning birdie meaning Warwickshire duo narrowly succumbed 1down. Unlucky Joe & Mike.
The last 2 matches featured familiar pairings in Coventry GC’s Ben Goodison partnering Danny Launchbury, and Handsworth’s Karl Smith teaming up with Maxstoke Park’s Steve Creed. Ben and Danny in match 4 took the lead, and lead going into the back 9.They would close out their match in style on the 15th 4&3 winners. News was not so good in the last match, it was tight and was always likely to head down the final hole, both teams had chances to win the point, but makeable putts slipped past resulting in an honourable half.
The Score at Lunch Worcestershire 1.5 - Warwickshire 3.5.
Players fed and watered, and the singles were soon back on the 1st tee. The afternoon singles matches were lead off by Sam Foster whose steady brand of golf was too much for his opponent to live with, Sam claiming his 2nd point of the day with a 4&3 victory. Congrats Sam!
Gary Greenway was not to be outdone in Match 2, he had a great start and lead 2 up after 9 holes. Gaz then pulled away and would win handsomely 5&4, another 2 points tally for Gaz.
Chris Laird & Paul Walker in Matches 3 and 4, had differing afternoon’s, Chris was able to chalk up another Warwickshire point with a 3&2 win, whilst Paul Walker would lose 2&1 to a very steady performance by ex-Worcestershire 2nd Team Captain Russ Ager.
The Olton Lads followed in Match 5 (Mike Pell) and Match 6 (Joe Mac), Mike would fall behind towards the end of the front 9, but playing the last hole he had foughtback to all square. A superb recovery shot after an errant tee shot, meant a putt to claim an unlikely win, but the curling putt broke across the hole, the match ending in a half point.
Meanwhile Joe Macilwraith was powering ahead of his Worcestershire opponent Jack Buckley, who was making his debut. Joe was comfortably ahead through the 9th hole and went on the clinch a 7&6 victory. Well done Joe.
Matches 7 and 8 had Ben and Danny respectively trying to add their 2nd point of the day to Warwickshire’s total, Ben was first to strike recording a superb 5&3 victory, whilst Danny was another player to suffer heartbreak on the 18thhole, and would lose by the narrowest margin, 1down.
Further 18th hole frustrations were also felt by matches 9 (Karl Smith) and 10 (Steve Creed). Karl boarded the last tee 1 down. A wayward tee shot compounded Karl’s deficet and he was defeated 2down. Unlucky Smithy! Moments later 'Creedy' and his opponent, both gave themselves opportunities to sneak a win, but a friendly half was the end result.
Despite Warwickshires final hole torments, we had done enough to claim 9.5 points, to Worcestershire's 5.5
Well done to the Warwickshire Lads who played some great golf, on a mostly unfamiliar golf course.
A big thanks to the Worcestershire Team, captained fantastically by Steve Bird, we wish your team all the best for your remaining league matches.
Finally, a big thanks to Kidderminster's greens keepers for the presentation of the golf course which was fantastic, and to the bar and clubhouse staff for looking after us all brilliantly all day.
Chris Leonard
Warwickshire 2nd Team Captain
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