Men's Matchplay

[ERUGC President Dave Greenwood (above left) presented Matty with the silver salver with Matchplay Secretary Geoff Drewery (right)]

The final of the East Riding Union of Golf Clubs’ Match-play Championship was played at Ganton on Sunday 21st September.

The match was between Hornsea’s 33 year old Jonny Fisher-Ulliott (last year’s runner up) and 27 year old Matty Raybould also of the Hornsea Golf Club.

The early morning weather was kind with a gentle breeze and blue skies, but through the day these conditions changed from gentle to a blustery northerly wind. As the wind increased the temperature dropped making scoring relatively difficult for both players.

The opening hole was halved in regulation par fours. On the 2nd Jonny Fisher Ulliott hooked his drive into Ganton’s notorious gorse. Following a penalty drop he was unable to match Matty’s par four and so went one down. Matty’s drive on the 3rd finished just short of the 317 yard hole whilst Jonny again pulled his drive into the deep rough left of the green. Jonny managed to get his chip shot onto the green and two putt for a par, whereas Matty three putted the hole for a half. The fourth saw Matty over-club his second shot to the green and his ball finished in a bush behind the green. Having failed to get the ball out with his first attempt, he then went through the green with his fourth shot and so he conceded the hole to square the match. A three putt from Matty on the 5th saw Jonny take a one hole lead.

The game swung back to all square after the long par four 6th when Jonny three putted after leaving his first putt some 12 foot short. The first birdie of the day came on the 7th when Matty holed a twenty footer to go one up. Both players parred the 8th with fours. When both birdied the long par 5 ninth this gave Matty a 1 hole advantage after 9 holes.

The 10th saw Jonny three putt again to go 2 down. The 11th saw Matty’s first wayward drive when he found the right hand fairway bunker and he failed to find the green with his bunker shot and went on to drop a shot to Jonny’s par four and so the deficit was back to 1 hole. The next four holes were halved. On the 16th Matty hit a wayward drive into the gorse followed by shot into a green-side bunker resulting in an uncharacteristic double bogey and loss of hole. The testy long par three 17th saw both players miss the green left, Matty chipped up to about 8 foot whilst Jonny mis-judged his shot barely making the edge of the green. However Jonny managed to hole a 30 footer whilst Matty missed his 12 foot putt and so the game swung back in Jonny’s favour. The 18th saw both players get to the edge of the long green in two shots. Matty left his chip some 25 foot short whilst Jonny managed to get close enough to get his par four. When Matty missed his par putt Jonny had finished the morning round 2 up.

The opening two holes of the second round saw both players with par fours. On the 3rd hole Jonny hit a great drive just short of the green whilst Matty was in the right green-side bunker. So advantage Jonny. Unfortunately Jonny thinned his chip to the back of the green whilst Matty achieved a great sand save by splashing out and holing his eight foot putt for a birdie three. Although Jonny had the advantage following their drives on the 4th, he failed to get his wedge onto the green and consequently lost the hole to Matty’s four so bringing the game back to all square.

Holes 5 to 10 were halved with both players birdieing the 9th and bogeying the 10th. Finding the bunker on the 11th cost Jonny the hole and a poor tee shot on the 12th cost him another hole, so going 2 down. A brilliant eagle three on the par five 13th gave Matty a 3 hole lead. Roles were reversed on the 14th when Jonny eagled the short par four with an eight foot tap in. Jonny bunkered himself with his second shot to the difficult 15th so Matty’s par four was good enough to win another hole and take him to dormie 3 up. The 16th hole proved difficult for both players but when Jonny found yet another bunker green-side right, it took him two shots to get out and he conceded the hole thereby giving the match to Matty Raybould by a margin of 4&2.

Matty was presented with the Matchplay Trophy by David Greenwood, President of the East Riding Union of Golf Clubs at the after golf dinner in the Ganton Clubhouse where the Champion gave a very gracious and humble speech. A first Matchplay title for Matty to cap a stellar season in which he also lifted the ER Amateur Trophy at the KP Club.

Geoff Drewery
ERUGC Matchplay Secretary

Congratulations to Jon Samuel of Hull Golf Club – 2024 ERUGC Matchplay Champion!

Jon Samuel (Hull) bt Jonnie Fisher (Hornsea) 7&6

The final of the East Riding Union of Golf Clubs’ Matchplay Championship was played at Ganton Golf Club on Sunday 15th September.

The match was between Hornsea’s Jonny Fisher Ulliott and long established East Riding player and twice previous winner of the Match play Championship, Jon Samuel of the Hull Golf Club.

When the match teed off the early morning weather was kind with a gentle westerly breeze and blue skies, but these conditions changed rapidly when the temperature dropped, the wind strengthened and the rain moved in to provide testy conditions for both players.

The early holes set the tone of the match to come. Fisher Ulliott’s drives from the tee were considerably further than Samuel’s fairway splitting drives, but the story on the greens was the critical factor in this match. Samuel quickly got to grips with the tricky Ganton greens, whereas Fisher Ulliott struggled with the pace and lost the 1st and 3rd holes by 3 putting and, with Samuel sinking a birdie putt on the second from 8 feet, Fisher Ulliott was three down after 3 holes.

Following pars by both players on the 4th Samuel made a rare mistake by 3 putting the 5th from some 8 yards, leaving Fisher Ulliott 2 down. Samuel regained his 3-hole advantage when Fisher Ulliott bunkered himself on the long par 6th hole. Over the next three holes the players matched each other leaving Samuel with a three hole advantage after 9 holes.

Fisher Ulliott bunkered himself greenside on the short par 3 10th hole allowing Samuel to take a four hole lead. The 11th hole was birdied by both players and the 12th was parred but the 13th was gifted to Samuel when Fisher Ulliott’s putting woes came back to haunt him and his 3 putt gave Samuel a 5 hole advantage. The short par four 14th saw Fisher Ulliott drive into one of Ganton’s deep cavernous bunkers at which he needed three attempts to get out and so gifted another hole to Samuel who was now 6 up.

Both players failed to get onto the long par 4 15th hole and the two bogey 5s meant hole halved. The 16th was won by Fisher Ulliott following a prodigious fairway splitting drive and short iron in to within 8 feet which he then holed for birdie and reducing the deficit to 5 holes. The 17th saw the putting woes return and when he three putted he dropped back to 6 down. The problems continued for Fisher Ulliott down the 18th when his second shot to the green was lost in deep gorse leaving the match after 18 holes in Samuels favour by a margin of 7.

The second round began with Fisher Ulliott needing a big change in fortune, but this was not to be. After halving the 1st in par, Samuel went further ahead when he holed out from 8 foot for a birdie three on the second hole. The 3rd and 4th holes were halved in pars, but when Fisher Ulliott bunkered himself at the short par 3 5th, Samuel’s par 3 was good enough to take his advantage to 9 holes with only 12 to play. The 10th and 11th holes saw two poor tee shots from Samuel and when he failed to make par at either hole Fisher Ulliott had managed to reduce the deficit to 7 holes with 7 to play. The dogleg 12th hole was halved with par 4s so this left Jon Samuel the ERUGC Matchplay Champion for 2024 winning by a margin of 7&6.

Jon won his first Matchplay title in 2003 and followed it up the following year when he completed the rare Strokeplay and Matchplay double. Noone had managed it since until today!

Pictured below: Jonny congratulates Jon (grey top) on the 12th green

Jonty Hall, President of the East Riding Union of Golf Clubs presented Jon Samuel with the Championship Trophy after the meal in the Ganton Clubhouse.

Geoff Drewery
ERUGC Matchplay Secretary

Semi Final Results – Played at Neutral Venues

Quarter Final Results

3rd Round Results

2nd Round Results

1st Round Results