Bradford Union 21 – 15 ERUGC
Woodhall Hills Golf Club
Sunday 2nd August, 2026
Another trip to West Yorkshire to a hilly course on a glorious day ended in another disappointing defeat.
Three weeks after the Halifax & Huddersfield defeat high up on Ogden Moor, the East Riding men’s team headed west again in the hope of restoring some pride against a winless Bradford team. The home team had not read the script.
All looked well around the turn during the morning foursomes. Up in three, down in two and all square in one felt like a decent start for Rees Brown’s men – again missing some of the East Riding’s ‘big guns’ for a variety of reasons.
The top pair of recently crowned ER Amateur Champion Tom Sanghera and Paul Wray were pegged back late on and lost to a chip in birdie at the last. An ominous start to the day’s proceedings.
Jack Clark and Steve Sorrrenson in match 2 lost at the 17th, closely followed by another last hole reverse for the experienced pair of Dan Digby and Leigh Gawley.
In match 4, Bradford were dominant throughout, taking down East Riding’s tallest pairing ever of Tom Brown and Warren Burns 3&2. Match 5 followed a similar pattern with Olly Beckett and Mason Sleight (winners last time out at Halifax) succumbing on the 16th green.
That left the all Hull pairing of George Clark and Will Storr (pictured below on the 6th tee) to get some blue on the board with their 4&2 victory.
10-2 to Bradford at lunch and another uphill (and downhill) battle lay ahead on the baked sloping fairways of Woodhall Hills.
Sanghera had an epic battle against Bradford’s top player Oliver Young, but was edged out for the second time in the day at the last. However, shoots of recovery were there in the top order as Paul Wray and Leigh Gawley won and Jack Clark battled for a half in matches 2, 3 and 4 respectively. The virtual scoreboard showed Bradford 13-7 ahead.
The Bradford middle order all but secured the home victory with healthy wins over Steve Sorrenson and then Dan Digby, but the East Riding tail was wagging and where there’s life, there was hope.
Tom Brown (pictured below at the long 12th) stood tall to win 3&2 in match 7, but Warren Burns went down by the same score to get Bradford to the magic number of 19 points. Olly Beckett managed a half and morning partner Mason Sleight maintained his 100% singles win record for the Union with a gutsy win at the 17th.
Will Storr took maximum points on the day with a memorable victory in the penultimate match (pictured below at the long 16th). 4 down through 7 holes to the highly rated teenager TJ Berry. Will dug in to claw his way back to win 2up against an increasingly ruffled youngster.
In the anchor match, George Clark was down early on, but put himself in a winning position over the back nine, only to have tree trouble at the last and had to settle for a half as everyone looked on exhausted over the 18th green (pictured below).
Thanks to Woodhall Hills for presenting the course so well despite the current drought and to their clubhouse staff for looking after players, officials and supporters so well across the long day.
Big mention as always to Howard Palmer who left Hornsea at 7am to provide on course support to the players and to ERUGC Secretary Tom Elder who stood in for President Alan Hutchinson who was on duty at the Millennium Trophy final at Brough. As ever, Edward and Eileen Clark pootled over to watch the team and grandson George who maintained his lead in the Player of the Year standings with an unbeaten day.
Next up is the steel of Sheffield Union at Driffield in only two weeks time. With the league dream over after previous defeats, only pride is on the line now against one of the perennial powerhouse unions. Should be a belter.
Jonathan Clark
ERUGC Press Secretary
