The first match of the 2024 Yorkshire Inter District Union (YIDU) for the East Riding Juniors came early in the season for scheduling reasons.
As with so many arrangements that people have made over the previous 8 months, the weather necessitated a change in venue. This match was supposed to have been played at the picturesque Driffield Golf Club but, like everywhere, they have suffered from the effects of the inclement weather. Whilst everything was done by the Driffield staff to get the course playable, mother nature decided against it. The Union would like to thank all those associated with Driffield Golf Club who tried to get the course playable.
So an “11th hour” change was required. The fixture was switched to the wonderful Ganton Golf Club. An enormous thank you to Ganton Golf Club for accommodating us at such short notice.
With the course in fantastic condition and the gorse blooming nicely, today’s guests were the always strong Teesside Union. As expected, they brought a team with a wealth of knowledge and experience as well as some younger, but exceptionally talented lower order players. The East Riding always knew this would be a tough match requiring as strong a team as we could put together. A couple of changes to the starting lineup for the Union saw Huxley Sawyer of Cave Castle GC given a debut start and Alfie Dacey from Ganton coming in for Ewan MacKenzie who was unavailable at the time of selection to play.
So to the action. To play Ganton well, it is imperative to get off to a good start. Both teams knew this and it was Teesside who made the stronger move over the initial exchanges. At one point the visitors were ahead in 3 of the first 4 matches, with East Riding only up in one of the six morning foursomes. Much to ponder on for the management!!
Thankfully the boys started to emerge from their slumber with Luke Townhill, Ganton GC and George Coope, Cottingham GC leading the charge, starting their come back from being 5 down after 10 holes, but just running out of time losing their match on the last hole. With matches 1 and 5 going the way of the visitors, the first points of the day for the Union came from the Cottingham pair of Bobby Beasley and Callum Burns and the Ganton duo of Ben Staveley and Harry Mukerjea who both won their matches 2&1. Tom Adcock and Huxley Sawyer, both from Cave Castle GC, battled to get a half on the last.
So at half time, Teesside held a slender 7-5 lead. Another very close match. What would the afternoon hold? Difficult to say!
As with the morning tee shots off the first hole, the afternoon ones again mostly found the fairway with laser like accuracy. But it was the East Riding who started the brighter this time. A strong opening from Captain Luke Thornton of Hessle saw him birdie 3 of the first 4 holes to be 2up after 5 holes and never relinquished the grip on his match eventually winning 2&1.
The afternoon’s biggest win came in match 2 from Warren Burns of Cottingham GC with an impressive 5&4 win. Other strong afternoon performances came from George Walker and Alfie Dacey, both from the host club, winning their matches in the gathering cold air 4&3 and 3&1 respectively. In fact what unfolded was totally unexpected. The first 9 matches all went the way of the home side with the only two losses for the Union in the afternoon coming from 2 of the last 3 matches. It was left to Tom Adcock in the last match to put the icing on the cake with a 3&2 win meaning the resulted ended 25-11 in favour of the home side. Wow what a day!
Only three players gained maximum points on the day. So Bobby Beasley, Callum Burns and Ben Staveley are the early front runners for the coveted Player of the Year Trophy. See the standings here.
The matches were played in a great spirit and well played to both sides. It was great to have so many spectators out watching some excellent golf by both teams. Thank you to team members who came to support your fellow team mates. That is so important.
As always, thank you to all the volunteers and parents who help make these events happen. A huge thank you for your hospitality and for being wonderful hosts Ganton Golf Club. It was greatly appreciated.
So our next match will be another tough exchange against Sheffield Union at Serlby Park GC on Sunday 21th April.
Sunil Mukerjea
Junior Team Manager
