On a day when the temperature reached 28 degrees, 36 holes around Beverley & East Riding's Westwood course was as much an endurance test as a game of golf against the York Union. Hydration was crucial but having come equipped with more than the usual supply of water, your correspondent needed to make a lunchtime visit to Tesco to refill the cool boxes, such was the demand of water from the players.
Another consequence of the heat was that the Westwood was crowded with people intent on enjoying the sunshine and our President dutifully patrolled the 7th fairway, persuading picnickers and footballers to move along.
The morning foursomes got under way at 10.00 with York short of their pairing from Malton & Norton. A chaotic scene ensued as they finally arrived at speed, to park by the 1st tee, unload their clubs, don their shoes and step onto the tee without any warm up or preparation.
Through 8 holes, York were marginally ahead, leading in four of the games, albeit by only one or two holes and Team Manager, Andy Lockwood, was suffering his usual anguish of foursome blues.
The top game went York's way by 2&1 but in the second game, Jack Maxey & Phil Wright, one down with two to play, won both holes to clinch the game. Meanwhile, Aaron Brettell & Jacob Hodgson closed out their game on the 17th green.
Andy Woodhead & Dan Digby overturned a deficit to win 1 up, the same scoreline as that for Luke Thornton & Jack Northgraves, whilst Tommy Risker & George Clark enjoyed an early lunch with a 6&5 victory.
Three of the morning games went the full distance, with East Riding winning them all to give the home team a 10:2 advantage at lunch, a scoreline which could have been 5:7 to York had the 18th hole played out differently.
East Riding consolidated their lead with the top two singles, featuring Maxey and Paul Lockwood, finishing early but Brettell, despite being 3 under par, lost 4&3 and Matty Raybould lost on the last.
Raybould had been 5 down through the 8th but managed to square the game on the 17th. His tee shot found the middle of the green at the short 18th and, with his opponent missing the green right and finding a bare lie in a gulley, it looked as if Raybould might pull off the come-back of his life. Not to be – his opponent somehow bundled his ball to within 2 feet, Raybould misjudged the pace of his put and the rest, as they say, is history.
With Woodhead and Wright winning their games with holes to spare, the match result was not in doubt and it was a case of the size of the margin. Clark, Hodgson and Risker all won by 3&2 and Thornton came back from 3 down to win 1 up, giving a singles score of 16:8 and an overall score of 26:10 to East Riding.
Thanks to Beverley & East Riding GC for the use of their facilities and for the excellent service of its staff. Also, a big thank you to all the supporters, too many to name individually, who acted as marshals and ball spotters.
Tommy Risker now heads the Player of the Year table on 23 points. Second is Paul Lockwood on 21
Howard Palmer
ERU Men's Team Support
