Warwickshire Golf
MENS 2nd TEAM FRIENDLY AGAINST LEICESTERSHIRE & RUTLAND
The start of the 2019 Warwickshire 2nd team season saw us host Leicestershire and Rutland at Walmley Golf Club.
As we arrived, the green keepers (who had been working since 5-30am) had hand cut the tees, were ironing the greens and preparing the course for the day. A huge thank you to them, the course was pretty as a picture and got the highest praise from both sides.
Onto the match and the team selected was a mixed one with some new players to County Mens golf, some youth and some experience.
In the first match, Rhys Wallace (Handsworth) and Chris Staite (Robin Hood) got us underway. Slow out the traps the Warwickshire pair found themselves 5 down after 7. Digging in and battling hard they would fight back to be only 1 down after 13 with some very solid golf. Unfortunately, they would find trouble on 14 and 15 to return to 3 down and would lose out by 3 & 2.
Dan Launchbury and Ben Smith (both Coventry) started well and got to 2up after 7. A run of poor holes would see them hand the initiative back to Leicestershire and despite battling on a few missed putts would lead to a 3 & 2 defeat.
Jamie Johnson (Coventry) and Chris Leonard (Hearsall) were Warwickshire's 3rdpairing and again off to a slow start they would be 3 down after 7. Similar to the earlier matches they would fight hard but not make many inroads and would see their challenge end in a 5 & 4 defeat.
Jacob Parsons (The Warwickshire) and Tom Lewis (Nuneaton) started well and were in a tight match of high quality with their Leicestershire opponents. Never too many holes in it, Warwickshire managed to pull ahead on the 14thand would push on to close out the match 3 & 2 and put the first points on the board for Warwickshire.
The last foursomes pairing saw Lewis Watson (Handsworth) and Karl Mason (Stratford Oaks) combining and another close match was in progress. The Warwickshire pair winning the 9thto go 1up. The match stayed close and with Lewis holing a clutch putt on 17 (with a crazy amount of swing on it) they would clinch victory by a 3 & 1 margin to get Warwickshire back into the overall match to be only 3 - 2 behind at lunch.
Onto the singles and the wind was now picking up significantly and conditions were getting tough and a lot cooler. It was going to be a battle to keep the ball in play on Walmley's tight fairways.
Chris Staite led out the singles and 1up through 7 he would be 1 down finishing the 16th. His tee shot on 17 not coming back into safety with the strong cross wind and found the trees on the right hand side meaning he would lose out 2 & 1 to the Leicestershire Captain.
Rhys Wallace was playing number two and he was down early but got right back in the mix with some great iron play. His 2ndshot to the par 5 13thwas something to behold. However, try as he may he could not quite reel in his opponent and would end up with a 2&1 defeat.
Ben Smith (on his 2ndteam debut) was playing some good golf but fell behind early to some very good play from his Leicestershire opponent. Keeping in touch the gap steadily reduced to be all square on the 17thtee. Winning the 17thto go one up Bens tee shot on 18 would end up short of the green and the resulting bogey would see the match halved.
Dan Launchbury was in determined mood and playing some extremely low scoring golf in the conditions, 4up through 7 he remained in control of his game and the match to run out with an impressive 5 & 4 victory.
Jamie Johnson struggled early on in his game and would lose 5 of the first 6 holes. Refusing to give up our 2018 County Boys Champion came back into the match to reduce the deficit to just 2 holes early in the back 9. However, another push from his opponent and Jamie's approach found the water on 16 (when forced into going for the flag) saw him lose out 4 & 2.
Jacob Parsons was next and joining the theme for the day had a slow start and going behind early on. He would keep the match close until the turn but then a succession of holes lost would see his opponent pull away to a 4 & 3 victory.
Tom Lewis was in a very close game and a birdie 2 at Walmley's notorious 5thhole (his foursomes pair also made a birdie on the same hole in the morning) would see him take a slender lead. All square on the 18thtee after a great six-footer for the half on the 17thTom's tee shot would unfortunately miss the green just on the right and kick off the bank into a nearby bush. This put paid to his chances, ending with a defeat by the smallest margin of 1 hole.
Better news was coming from the next match. Lewis Watson was in a hurry and with some fantastic golf was 6up after just 8 holes. I never saw Lewis out of position all afternoon and a solid 6 & 5 win and a maximum point haul on the day was very well deserved.
Chris Leonard was next and his putter got a bit cold and although he matched his opponent tee to green, the putts simply wouldn't drop all day. He would eventually lose out 3 & 2.
Karl Mason in the last game fought hard throughout the round and would get to the last hole all square. A great tee shot to 15 feet with his opponent in a horrible spot through the green appeared to have sealed Karl his full point. His opponent however played a world class pitch to 5 feet (which appeared to be impossible) and when Karl left his putt agonisingly on the lip, his opponent bravely slotted the putt for a halved game.
Warwickshire had lost the singles 7 matches to 3 and the overall contest by the margin of 10 - 5.
Whilst not the result we were looking for I must pass my congratulations to the Leicestershire and Rutland team who did fully deserve this win on the day.
Warwickshire can take positives in the debuts of some great players who will no doubt be representing us in future matches. Congratulations to Lewis, Jacob, Tom and Ben on getting their first points at 2ndteam level. Lewis with two convincing wins on the day was great to see as he has been putting in the hours on the practice range and always present in the County coaching scheme.
Thank you to John and the Leicestershire players for a great match played in good spirits.
Also huge thank you to the members of Walmley Golf Club who kindly gave us the use of the course for this match. Once again a thank you to the greens staff for all the efforts to present the course so wonderfully.
A personal thanks to Mark Reynolds, Bob Wallace, John Stubbings and Anthony Gascoigne for the on-course support on the day, all enduring the bitter cold to support the team in the afternoon singles.
Chris Brown
2nd Team Captain
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