Men's Team come up short in fightback
Once again the Men's Team were on the wrong end of the foursome score in their match against the Sheffield Union at Hornsea on 12th June. Trailing by 9 points to 3 at lunch, East Riding were looking for a repeat of their heroics against both Leeds and Harrogate in 2021, when they overturned similar deficits on their way to the League title.
In fact, early in the morning rounds, all six games were going Sheffield's way but the top match of Paul Lockwood & Matty Raybould rallied on the back nine to win on the final green, whilst Steve Uzzell, partnered with Johnny Fisher, returning to the Team after a 10 year absence, escaped with a half.
East Riding needed to win eight of the twelve singles to snatch victory and the prospects looked favourable in mid-afternoon with the scoresheet after nine holes showing a sea of blue (the colour of the Team's new kit) as the Team led in all but four games of which, only one was in the red.
However, Hornsea's “loop” of holes 10, 11 and 12, proved to be East Riding's Amen Corner. Firstly Lockwood, 2 up at the turn was hit with three birdies, to go 1 down whilst Tommy Broadley, Steve Dale and Lewis Nicholls, playing in the games that were level at the turn, all found themselves 2 down on the 13th tee. With Sheffield having won one of the later games, East Riding needed one of these four matches to be turned around but despite the best efforts of the players with support from their colleagues, all were lost and Sheffield were over the winning line.
Excellent wins were recorded by Uzzell, Fisher, Andy Woodhead, Ryan Gray and Tommy Risker, with Jamie Gregory recording a half but the performance of the day was from Matty Raybould, who was 7 under par for the 17 holes needed to beat his opponent, who was himself 5 under! As a consequence, Raybould leads the order of merit with a 100% record over the two matches played to date.
At the post-match dinner, President John Illingworth thanked Hornsea Golf Club and its staff for a course in fine condition and for the excellent catering and hospitality. Sheffield President, Bob Unwin remarked on a tight match , played in a good spirit and announced the result of 20:16 in Sheffield's favour.
Howard Palmer
ERU Men's Team Support
