Once again the Thone Cup meeting at Taunton & Pickeridge GC was a success on Sunday 28th April.  A huge thank you to Clive Large who has taken over match managing this from Hugh Todd.

Terry Davidge won the Thone Cup with 38 points, Finley Pyke (son of Matthew Pyke) won the GB Johnson salver for the best pupil (who went around Taunton and Pickeridge in one over par off the middle tees playing off 6) with 41 points (A future Halford Hewitt team member!)

The OTs won the team competition versus the school.

Once again the BNB took place the weekend before the Halford Hewitt so it was going to be a long few days of golf.  The weather was looking blustery with winds just short of 50 mph but it did remain fairly dry!   Richard Willacy, Tim Blood, Andy Ford and Jack Malden played on the Friday practice day and was later joined by Captain Pete Whalley for the welcome, draw and dinner.   Taunton were drawn to play Lloyds Bank in the 1st round on Saturday.

The team for the weekend was:
Richard Willacy & Phil Stickler
Jack Malden & Andy Ford
Tim Blood & Pete Whalley

1st Round (Main Competition) against Lloyds Bank Won 2-1
2nd Round (Main Competition) against Wigorns Lost 2-1

Round 1 Results:  1st Pair Willacy/Stickler (Won 3-2), 2nd Pair Malden/Ford (Won 3-2), 3rd Pair Blood/Whalley (Lost 4-3)
Round 2 Results: 1st Pair Willacy/Stickler (lost 19th), 2nd Pair Malden/Ford (Won 3-2), 3rd Pair Blood/Whalley (Lost 19th)

Sadly the two pairs that lost are still recovering having been dormy 3 Up and losing on the 19th!

On Sunday we joined the ranks of the consolation stableford, which was again incredibly tough with the extremely strong winds, achieving an aggregate score of 64 points.

Taunton having won their qualifier stage benefitted from a first round bye and were due to play Nottingham in the second round at glorious Brancaster.  The weather was dry but the wind, in true links golf, was fresh!!

Team and pairings consisted of …..

Gary Hector & Phil Stickler
Richard Willacy & Greg Whalley
Pete Whalley & David Higginson

Tough school again Gary and Phil lost 2-1, Richard and Greg halved their match on the eighteenth and Pete and David fought back to 1 down going down the eighteenth but didn’t manage to win the hole back, so Taunton lost 2.5 – 0.5.  Unfortunately, we had car tyre problems which needed sorting out before the long drive home so we were unable to put a full team in for the Salver BUT were allowed to follow the field at midday and play another 18 holes amongst ourselves which was, as always, fun and competitive.

Well done to Captain Pete for leading the team and Gary for sourcing the excellent accommodation.

Full results and finals draw can be viewed under Scratch Competitions – Grafton Morrish

Another great day at the Heath.  The weather was looking dubious as it rained whilst we were have lunch and the AGM before the golf in the afternoon.  However, 17 players (13 OT’s and 4 guests) played for various prizes on offer including the Fairwater Cup and Vets Cup.

In the end there was no rain when we started playing golf but just the tricky condition of a fairly strong wind.  The Vets cup was again played over 9 holes.  Our (Reigate Heath GC) greenskeeper, Matt, has done a fantastic job bringing back the greens and fairways after such a hard season last summer and a particularly wet winter.  The condition of the course was superb, although I’m sure by the time we get to summer the greens will be even quicker!

Results of the day:

Fairwater Cup:   Rob Mazur  (32 Points)
Vets Cup:   Richard Willacy  (19 Points – Front 9)
Longest Drive:  Ed Bradnock
Nearest to the Pin:  Richard Willacy
Guest Prize:  Charlie Westwater
Team Prize:  Ed Bradnock, Andrew Emmett, Chris Emmett

The Thone Cup and annual match against the School were played on Sunday 30th April at Taunton & Pickeridge GC.

The weather forecast was certainly not very promising but in fact it was only the last two groups out who had to contend too much with the elements.  The match between the OTs and the School was very close but ultimately the OTs came out on top.

The Silver Salver, presented for the best score by a School pupil, was won for the second successive year by Finlay Pyke.

The Thone Cup was won by OT golfing stalwart Matthew Pyke with 35 points with Hugh Todd just beating Clive Large to 2nd place.

All the prizes were presented by OTGS President, Terry Davidge, and a highly coveted OTGS tie was presented to Liam Dempster, who is in charge of Golf at TS, for his work supporting golf at the School.

Straight off the back of Brent Knoll Bowl and here we are again at the Halford Hewitt.  This year we are playing at Royal St George’s and we have a team plus reserves!  At one point we had 14 players down but eventually settled on 12.  Welcome to the Lee brothers for the first time to this wonderful competition.

Overall the weather was unpredictable with Tuesday and Wednesday being the best of the week with 40-50 mph winds expected Thursday and Friday.  Willacy, Stickler, Hector, Ford, Greg/Pete Whalley and Bradnock played on the Tuesday with the rest arriving either that evening or for the Wednesday practice day.

Our first round match was against Chigwell, who according to the Anderson scale are ranked similar to Taunton, so we felt we had a chance.  However, we then knew the 2nd round would be tough with a match against either Eton or Ampleforth (who we did beat last year).

So in preparation for Thursday’s match we tasked Chef Greg to cook something special to warm us up and what a meal it was with scallops prepared by sous chef Higgy followed by rack of lamb for main course.  Well done team.

Results:
1st Round v Chigwell   Won 3-2
1) G Hector/P Stickler (W) 4-3
2) J Malden/H Lee (L) 6-5
3) G Whalley/A Ford (L) 7-6
4) P Whalley/D Higginson (W) 5-4
5) M Pyke/R Willacy (W) 5-4

2nd Round v Eton Lost 4.5 – 0.5
1) M Pyke/R Willacy (L) 1 Down
2) G Hector/P Stickler (L) 3-2
3) J Malden/H Lee (H) Halved on 17th
4) E Bradnock/PLee (L) 7-6
4) P Whalley/A Ford (L) 4-3

Despite the final score against Eton it’s worth noting 3 of the games were up at the 12th Halfway Hut.  Eton went on to lose in the Semi-Finals.

Another fantastic week was had by all and I hope the Lee twins enjoyed it as much as us old timers do and we hope to see them back again next year.