SUGC v HARROGATE

The Harrogate match at Ripon City was the last of the 2018 season and clinched the seventh win for Sheffield in the previous eight years, so hopes were high for a solid start to the 2019 season against the same Union.

The foursomes got off to a successful start for the Sheffield pair of Jim Tasker and new Hallamshire recruit, Andy Oates, after a hard fought match, winning by one hole against the Harrogate captain, Phil Kitching, and Marc Rice. The fortunes were turned for the second pair of Neil Stones (captain for the day) and Nathan Fell, who in the words of Schuey had ‘a sloppy start’ but only 1 down on the 18th tee,  eventually lost by two holes (see last paragraph below!). Ollie Smith and Jamie Harrison were 3 up at the turn, 4 up thanks to a birdie from Jamie on the 14th, and restored the Sheffield lead with a 3&2 win. Hopes high?

Then, Richard Hanson/Jon Berrisford found themselves 4 down at the turn, 6 down at the 11th, despite the Harrogate pair occasionally visiting the trees which line the Wortley course; but thanks to a flurry of Harrogate birdies, the Sheffield pair could not pull back the deficit. The Phoenix pairing of Brandon Perry/Dean Longden suffered a similar fate, after being 3 down at the 11th, despite not having had a single bogey. The last pair of Ian Clarke and Iain Melville, another new recruit, turned 2 up thanks to a fiendish downhill birdie putt by the former on the 9th, then 3 up at the 13th, but were pegged back to finish A/S. So, with the lunchtime score 5 – 7 points in Harrogate’s favour, hopes were somewhat diminished.

Nay bother, the Sheffield strength is always in the singles! That said, all Sheffield’s first three singles of Jim, Nathan and Ollie, lost their matches, the last stating he had been ‘battered’ to a 6&4 defeat. The losses were reversed by Jamie, Andy and Brandon to relieve the nerves. In the final matches, although around the turn most were all square, they all resulted in losses for Sheffield except for Ian Clarke who raced to a 4&3 win. Schuey might have been the exception: having been 4 down at the turn, then won 4 consecutive holes, but eventually lost by a single hole.

All credit to the Harrogate team who, consisting of a number of young and keen players, seemed to have ‘the rub of the green’, sinking putts with masterly ease. A single example will suffice: in the morning on the difficult 434 yard finishing hole, Nathan had hit a superb 4-iron shot pin high 10 feet to the right; Harrogate’s Jack Ward also hit a good shot which drew pin high 25 feet left; whilst Schuey was sizing up his putt for a birdie to achieve an A/S result, he and Nathan were ‘gobsmacked’ to see Harrogate’s Dan White slot his birdie putt in - from off the green! So, on the day, Harrogate outplayed Sheffield to achieve a 23 – 13 points match win.

Is this a wake-up call for Sheffield?

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