The folly of watching matchplay golf from the comfort of the clubhouse is clear – you may not see any play. That adage, however, did not hold true when the East Riding Men's Team played the York Union Team, as game after game went the full distance.
Four of the six foursomes and eight of the twelve singles were settled on the 18th green, with East Riding winning five of those games in total to York's two and the remaining five finishing all square.
The match result was a 23-13 win for East Riding, a scoreline which could have been reversed, had a few putts dropped for York on that final green.
After several days of heavy rain, York Golf Club (Strensall) was remarkably dry underfoot but the Team Captains agreed to a local rule of clean and place to avoid the inevitable”mud-ball”.
East Riding were quickly into their stride in the morning foursomes with five of the games registering a positive score at the turn and the remaining game all square. However, York rallied on the back nine and it looked as if the lunchtime scores would be level until Charlie Milner and Jonnie Fisher recovered from 1 down to gain a half, whilst Matty Raybould and Luke Thornton came through with a win on the last to make the score 8-4 to East Riding.
Ryan Gray and Jacob Hodgson had earlier put the first points on the board with a resounding win by 7&6, shortly followed by Tom Brown and Andy Woodhead who were victorious 4&3.
Aaron Brettell and Jack Maxey however, having been 3 up through 7, found themselves 2 down after 15 and eventually lost 1 down. In the top match, Steve Uzzell and Jack Northgraves fought a tight game to finish all square.
Watching play at the short 7th hole in the afternoon, it was clear that the result would be close as neither side was dominating the singles, York being up in five, East Riding up in four with three games all square.
Maxey was the first to finish, recording a win by 5&3 against George Robson, followed by Uzzell getting the better of Strensall's Matt Dolling 2up. York took the next two games as Brettell and Hodgson both lost 3&2 before Northgraves and Gray restored East Riding's four point lead with final green wins. A half from Fisher and with Woodhead closing out his game 3&2 against former Union teammate Steve Lynch, East Riding had a winning total of 19 points.
Milner, bunkered off the tee was unable to make par at the last to lose 1 down, but Brown and Raybould both finished all square, whilst Thornton won 1 up when his opponent lost his ball on the 18th [pictured above]. A hard fought match played by two strong teams finished 23:13 in favour of East Riding.
East Riding remain top of the YIDU standings by a solitary point from Leeds Union who had a comfortable win over Harrogate. Halifax and Huddersfield hung on to their title hopes with a narrow win over Sheffield.
Ryan Gray's maximum six points takes him to the top of the Player of the Year standings, two ahead of Tom Brown, who remains unbeaten in his ER singles career, but had to settle for a half at York. Jonnie Fisher moves up to third.
Next up is a return to home turf when ERUGC entertain Teesside at Brough Golf Club on Sunday 20 August.
Howard Palmer
ERU Men's Team Support
