East Riding Men's Team stretched their narrow lead at the top of the YIDU table with an emphatic victory over Teesside Union at Brough Golf Club.
The 25-11 final scoreline seemed a long way off when the early foursomes matches were all going the way of the visitors. Top pair Ryan Gray and Jacob Hodgson lost the first two holes and never really recovered and eventually lost on the 17th. Aaron Brettell and Jack Northgraves lost 3&2, before Charlie Milner and Jonnie Fisher were taken down 5&4.
So, 6-0 down before we'd had chance to draw breath and the foursomes hoodoo was rearing its ugly head again. Step forward Tom Brown and Matty Raybould who was playing in his last match before returning to the USA to do his PGA exams. After being two down after six holes, they rallied around the turn winning five of the next eight holes and closed out the match on the 16th 4&2.
In the bottom match, Luke Thornton and George Clark were the only East Riding pairing to get ahead early and stayed solid to beat Teesside skipper Paul Hutchinson and his late replacement father Neil 3&2 (more of him later).
That left match four going up the 18th at one down. An errant tee shot from the visitors left Leigh Gawley and home hero Dan Digby with a chance of escaping with a half. Never easy to do down Brough's 18th, but a Gawley drive piped down the middle and a Digby approach to the back left of the green gave them hope. A nerveless five footer from 'Diggers' left the lunchtime score at 7-5 in favour of the visitors.
Importantly the momentum was now with the East Riding after the early Teesside onslaught, but a quick start in the singles was required as always.
It is no coincidence that Ryan Gray leads the Player of the Year race [see updated standings here], as once again he led the team out against a highly rated opponent and delivered his point 2&1.
Jacob Hodgson had an interesting round and looked in a lot of bother standing at three down on the 16th tee. He dug deep however and won the final three holes for a much deserved half.
Then the trickle of points became a torrent, as wins began to come in thick and fast. Firstly Aaron Brettell won 2up after a tight battle, followed by Jonnie Fisher who dominated his match throughout and triumphed 4&3.
Yorkshire Boys Captain Jack Northgraves was drawn against the recently crowned Yorkshire under 14 champion Tom Hartshorne and the two youngsters produced a 'Brough classic'. Standing at one down on the long par 3 17th tee, Jack produced a stunning mid iron to 18 inches before edging out his county teammate on the last with a solid four.
Matty Raybould kept his unbeaten record in his two appearances this season with a battling half, before both Leigh Gawley and Dan Digby appeared from the 13th green having both recorded resounding 6&5 wins. Suddenly East Riding had 17 points on the board, so only one more win was required for overall victory.
Hull's Charlie Milner delivered with an up and down from through the back of 17 to win his match 2&1. Thoughts now turned to improving the points difference to take into the final fixture in a fortnight.
Tom Brown was unable to continue his remarkable unbeaten Union singles record and succumbed on the 17th, before Luke Thornton all but drove the par 4 14th to close out his match 5&4 against Teesside's late replacement Neil Hutchinson.
It was ironic that East Riding's youngest player Luke, aged 17, was drawn against Neil who had been looking forward to a day out supporting Teesside at Brough, before hastily throwing his clubs in the car before breakfast for his unexpected union debut. It is surely the largest age gap in YIDU history for a singles match given the 55 years which separated the players!
This left the last match on the course appearing over the ridge on the 16th where George Clark hit what was descibed as 'shot of the day' by the visting President - his 5 iron second shot to six inches closed out the match and the East Riding victory in spectacular style.
Thanks to hosts Brough Golf Club, starter Andy Pittaway and to the small band of regular supporters. The 25-11 result puts East Riding one win away from the YIDU title on Sunday 3 September against Harrogate Union at Starbeck Golf Club. News of a Leeds defeat at Halifax & Huddersfield added a cherry on top of a wonderful performance and makes the maths a little clearer for the season finale.
Full YIDU results and standings
Jonathan Clark
ERUGC Junior League Secretary
