SUGC v. BOLTON GOLF ASSOCIATION

THE SHEFFTON TROPHY: Bolton Old Links GC: Sunday 5 May 2019

The challenge of the Sheffton!

Yet again the opening match for the Senior League team is a ‘friendly’ between the two golf unions, the Trophy being a long-standing event, first established in 1963.

From the start the conditions were challenging. The day dawned cold with the sky overcast, the Old Links perched high on a hilly ridge above Bolton, exposed to a biting wind-chill which never ceased to pierce the protective clothing, two pullovers and three jackets, even long-johns, of our new President, Alan Marriott, (on his first senior outing) and myself, though it never seemed to affect Jon Beresford of Grange Park who throughout the day staunchly braved the elements with a short sleeved tee shirt and jumper. O for the elixir of youth!

Our foursomes started in fine style, with all the first four pairs several holes up as they stood on the 12th tee, but were pulled back over the remaining holes to win by narrower margins, though our first pair lost by only one hole – a rare occurrence for our Hallamshire duo! The last two pairs in the end lost by narrow margins, and thus honours were even at lunchtime, both teams with 3 points.

The wind and cold rarely abated in the afternoon. Again, our first three singles, Jim Tasker, Nick King and Ollie Smith, all got off to a good start and maintained their leads to win. But then ‘the tide changed’: our next seven singles failed to weather the storm, with our men battered by a barrage of birdies, for example, Bolton’s Josh Ashton holing 7 birdies in 12 holes. Exceptions were the 1up win by junior George Taylor and the same score from twelfth man, Neil Stones who, after boldly holing a 10-foot uphill putt on the 15th hole to remain A/S, won the downhill sloping 17th and hung on to halve the 18th.

Points of interest: Jim defeated the Bolton champion, Anthony Stirling, by 1up despite the latter scoring 5 birdies in the last 9 holes. Ollie had the overall highest score wins, despite lugging his oversized/overloaded golf bag up and down the hills. The overall match was always going to be a severe challenge for us with competing commitments for our Sheffield players at Fairhaven and Lytham St Annes events, as well as the York Rose Bowl; but, these also present the opportunity to involve new players, for example ex-junior, Tom Slattery, who steadfastly held the ‘veteran’ league player, Mark Latham, to a 4 and 3 score. In sum, as our captain, Neil Allen, said: ‘it was a noble try, a tough ask’, as the Bolton team stepped up to the plate in the afternoon to win the trophy by 10 – 8 points.

Martin Brewis

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