This year was indeed a memorable day with a recent and maybe an all, or a nearly, an all time high attendance of 40 players, 18 of which were OT’s.  David M has been organising this venue since 1974 and cannot recall ever seeing so many OT’s and guests. Thankfully the snow melted just in time for the event to take place.

The OT winner in the morning singles was Mark Wilkinson with 42 points and, a newcomer, Richard Parsons with 40 points was second.

In the afternoon, Murray Dron (an OT) with his guest Richard Pallot won with 42 points (23 on the last nine) beating on countback OT’s Iain Westwater and David Morgan with 42 points (19 on the last nine).

Mark Wilkinson won the nearest the pin prize on the 17^th hole in the morning in memory of the late Mathew Compton.

What a great performance by the team!!

Back Row: Tim Blood, Iain Westwater, Pete Whalley
Front Row: Phil Stickler, Richard Willacy, Gary Hector

Main Competition:
First round drawn against local side Leatherjackets – won 2-1
Second round drawn against Sherborne – won 2-1
(Sherborne have won this competition 3 out of the last 4 years!)
Semi Finals drawn against Royal Air Force – Lost 2-1
Close though in the semi-final:
GH/PS Lost 2-1
RW/IW Won 1 up
PW/TB Lost 1 down

We haven’t achieved this result in many years so well done boys.    Beware Cranleigh at the Halford Hewitt!!

Great to be back after an absence of 13 years, last time we qualified was 2004.  We missed out in in 2010, 2011, 2012 as best non-qualifiers (i.e. by one or two points)!!

Having qualified at Northants GC (Fleet) the boys were quick to book AirBnB accommodation in Brancaster and a good job done too, great house with heated pool!

Team:  Richard Willacy, Iain Westwater, Gary Hector, Greg Whalley, Pete Whalley, Phil Stickler.

Main draw 1st round v Reed’s lost 2-1.  Teams who don’t get through  the main GM competition play in the Solihull Salver (stableford scratch competition) where the top 4 play for the committee bowl. Taunton scored 73 points, Solihull won with 94.  Loughborough won the committee bowl with Epsom winning the main competition, two out of two for Epsom.

The Cyril Gray Tournament is a scratch foursomes knockout competition for the last 32 schools to have entered the Halford Hewitt.  Teams consist of three pairs of players each of whom is more than 50 years of age.

The event is played at Worplesdon Golf Club in June every year.

This year OTGS team was
Willacy/Westwater
Knight/Blood
Boyce/Horne

Reserve: N Robertson

Great two days, scorching weather on the Thursday and cooler on the Friday.  First round match against Trent (Thursday) was won 2 & half to half.  Second round match against Liverpool (Friday), 2016 winners, was narrowly lost 2-1.  Two matches went down the 18th, one won and one lost.  So very close.

New acronym learnt during the competition against Trent was a NITBY.  When facing that delicate shot over a bunker onto the green and someone calls a NITBY……….Not In The Bunker Yet!!

Cheers

Richard (stand-in Captain)

The annual meeting once again at St George’s Hill Golf Club took place on Sunday 14 May for our usual decent lunch and afternoon golf playing for the Fairwater Cup 18 holes stableford (holder Gary Hector 2016).  In total we had nine for lunch and twelve for golf in the afternoon.  This year we welcomed new attendees Simon Hobbs, Mark Jenkins and Neil Robertson.  It was a great day as usual, the weather was excellent and the golf a mixed bag!

Congratulations to the winner of the cup Gary Hector with a score of 35 points who retains the title after winning the cup last year but also gives him another year to get the cup engraved for 2016 and 2017 which he omitted to do!

Second place goes to Greg Whalley with  32 points and third place to Simon Hobbs with 29 points (after count back).  Once again it was a great effort to those who travelled from Taunton and beyond.

Those attended: G Hector, P Stickler, S Hobbs, T Davidge, R Willacy, G Whalley, N Robertson, D Morgan, O Hyland,  M Jenkins, M Turner, R Norris.

What another fantastic week weather wise!

Some of us turned up for the Tuesday practice at Deal and rest followed Wednesday.   No rounds these days are easy and our opening match was against Dulwich.  Unfortunately, we had a late tee off time of 14:10, which meant a lot of hanging around itching to get going.  Alas we lost 5-0, which once again doesn’t tell the whole story.  Hector & Stickler lost on the 19th, Pyke & Greg W lost on the 17th and Blood & Jenks lost on the 18th.  So a good effort.

The Plate, down to six players, first round Friday morning against Glenalmond.  Taunton win 3-0.  Second round Saturday morning against Uppingham we lost 2-1.

Team this year for the main competition was unchanged:
R Willacy & I Westwater
G Hector & P Stickler
G Whalley & M Pyke
P Whalley & D Higginson
T Blood & M Jenkins

Plate team was:
R Willacy & I Westwater
G Whalley & P Whalley
G Hector & P Stickler

Thanks again to all.  Another fantastic week and already looking forward to 2018!