AND SO IT BEGINS.

Once again the troops head down to sunny Kent, RCPGC, to compete in one of the most prestigious golf tournaments organised by the Public Schools Golfing Society.  This is hot off the heals of having played at the Brent Knoll Bowl over the previous weekend!

This year’s team consisted of:  Pete Whalley (C), Richard Willacy, Andrew Ford, Dave Higginson, Ed Bradnock, Gary Hector, Phil Stickler, Greg Whalley, Henry Lee and Patrick Lee (welcome back).

The draw took place at the East India Sports Club and Taunton were drawn to play Felsted in the 1st round.  According to the statistics the match was looking to be close one.

However, before the main competition started we had two fabulous practice days at Deal on both the Tuesday and Wednesday.  Unbelievably the rain stayed away although the wind and cold surprised us on the Wednesday and Thursday.

Other than that we could not have wished for glorious sunny weather, normally a rare occurrence.

So 1st round against Felsted, pairings were:  Richard W & Greg W, Pete W & Dave H, Phil S & G Hector, Ed B & Andy F, Patrick L & Henry L.  Unfortunately Felsted had the upper hand and beat us 3 1/2 – 1 1/2, Gary & Phil won, Pete & Dave agreed a half and the other three pairs all lost their games.  Next stop the plate on Friday.

Unfortunately, for the plate we have to reduce the team from 5 pairs to 3 pairs.  Tough decision for the Captain.  So first round of the plate was to be Gary & Phil, Richard & Greg and Pete & Dave against Downside in the morning.  Taunton won 2 1/2 – 1/2.  Second round that afternoon against Highgate saw the Lee twins with Andy replacing Richard, Pete and Dave.  Taunton won 3 – 0.  Excellent!

Saturday we only had one game to play and it was against our old friends Ampleforth whom we knocked out in the 1st round of the main competition in 2022.  The team this time was Gary & Phil, Richard & Pete and Greg & Andy.  What a game!  Taunton capture the win again 2 – 1 to proceed to the Semi-Finals against Eton and back to Deal on Sunday morning.

Another glorious day on Sunday.

Pairings slightly juggled again with Gary & Phil, Richard & Pete and Greg & Ed to do battle with Eton.  Unfortunately, when you get to Sunday you’ve played a lot of golf and the body gets weary!  Alas we didn’t perform as well on Sunday as the previous days and lost 2 – 1 to Eton.  However, what a great run for the team and Taunton.

A huge thank you goes to our team captain, Pete W, who organised all the accommodation and team selection.  Also to the purveyors of take-away food over the week!  To the whole team for sticking around for the whole week, it’s a tough call not to be selected when numbers have to be culled but the support and encouragement goes a long way.   Well played Gary and Phil who retained a 100% win record over the two competitions, BNB and HH!

ROLL-ON NEXT YEAR!!