A STRENGTH IN DEPTH WIN

A strength in depth win!

As we arrived at Easingwold the course was bathed in wall-to-wall sunshine. Clearly we were set for a hot day and indeed a hot golfing challenge as 4 or 5 of our regular players were otherwise engaged in Open qualifying and other events. It seemed it was going to be ‘nip and tuck’ all day, and so it proved to be – almost.

Our top pairing of Luke Palmowski and Julian Wood met strong opposition, losing 3&1 despite Luke achieving a hole in one at the difficult 198 yard 15th. [Luke’s mother, an ever present supporter of him and the team, ‘subbed’ him at the bar to buy the round of drinks for just about everyone present!] The second pair were level until being 1 down at the 16th but recovered to win 1up with a birdie after a superb second shot by Jim Tasker on the seriously difficult approach to the 18th green. Neil Stones and Nathan Fell suffered a barrage of 4 consecutive birdies to be 3 down at the 11th hole, but dug deep to record a commendable 3&1 win. Hodge and Jamie Harrison had a spectacular win (8&6).The last two pairings exchanged holes in the first half but eventually lost out, so the morning foursome score was even, 6 – 6 points.

All set for the singles challenge with the sun getting ever hotter. Luke recorded an early 4&3 win followed by Nathan (3&2) and Nick King (5&3), which settled the nerves a bit until we lost three matches in a row, so back to ‘square one’. And then, the ‘nip and tuck’ changed dramatically with all our five last players bringing in wins: Schuey (2&1), Dean Longden (2up), Dominic Moon (6&5), Jack Leversidge (4&3) and Hodge recording another fine score (6&5), thus securing a 22 – 14 points match win. This result shows that our Sheffield squad surely has ‘strength in depth’.

Points of interest:                                                                                                           - we brought into the team another new recruit, Julian Wood (Hallamshire), fresh from his triumph in winning the Sheffield Plate the previous Tuesday: in his singles match he found himself 3 down on the 11th after a flurry of low scores from his opponent including two eagles – at that moment Julian was 2 under par gross whilst his opponent was 5 under – what a tough initiation(!), but to his credit Julian hung on in to finish with no greater hole loss;                                                                             - we were impressed by the potential of a number of young players that the York Union had put in their team, not least the youngest (aged 12) taking on the oldest (Hodge: age unspecified!);                                                                                            - congratulations to all, especially Luke for his hole in one and Hodge, who recorded a remarkable 14 holes UP combined in his two matches, proud achievements.

Martin Brewis (Team Manager)

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