Men's Team on Fire in Singles
The penultimate Men's Team match against the Harrogate Union at Hessle GC had the feel of a “dead rubber”, although a big win for East Riding would keep alive the possibility of finishing as runners-up.
In his pre-match briefing, Team Manager Andy Lockwood, did not hold back from his criticism of the team's foursomes performances in earlier matches. And yet, despite the rebuke, it looked like being another disappointing morning session as the top two games reached the turn 3 down and 2 down and both were unable to claw back the deficit on the back nine.
But then, a couple of big wins from Andy Woodhead & Jacob Hodgson and Will Storr & Mark Lamb restored parity, shortly to be followed by a 2&1 victory for Dan Digby & Steve Dale. With the final pairing 3 up at the turn, it looked as if East Riding would take a lunchtime lead but, by the 12th, the last game was back to all square and Harrogate eventually ran out winners on the final hole.
With the scores tied at 6 all, East Riding were once more relying on their strength in individual play and, as in the previous match, they made a fast start in the afternoon singles, taking the top four games by comfortable margins. This time, however, unlike at Eaglescliffe two weeks previously, the momentum flowed down to the rest of the team, with all but one of them recording maximum points. Spare a thought however, for the odd man out, Johnny Fisher, who was hit with a barrage of birdies and no bogeys from the Harrogate Team Manager.
With a win in the singles by 11 games to one, the final scoreline was East Riding 28, Harrogate 8 and with Leeds away to all-conquering Sheffield in the final round of matches, a win at Meltham against Halifax & Huddersfield may be enough for East Riding to leapfrog Leeds and secure second place, to follow on from their league title in 2021.
The Player of the Year title is now a two-horse race between Tommy Risker and Paul Lockwood, with just 2 points separating them.
Howard Palmer
ERU Men's Team Support
