Match Report 2019

Our matches started early this year, with a visit to Newmarket Links on the 17th March in the Derek Burridge knockout. We are always made to feel very welcome at Newmarket and 2019 carried on in this vain.
Our teams for the day were John Black / MKF, Dave Watts / Tony Leigh, Phil Black / Dave Brown, Peter Jackson / Reggie and Steve Bonnett / Graham Handscombe.
With a very cold wind blowing over the Links, our only winners on the day were Phil and Dave, so once again we failed to get by the first round in the Derek Burridge.
The chips and sandwiches after gave us some consolation on a very cold day.

Sunday March 31st saw our challenge in the Cambs Inter Club League starting with a visit to our close neighbours and rivals Barkway. As always, we are made to feel very welcome at Barkway and our hosts provided us with a fantastic breakfast before the match.
Our pairings for the day were John Black / MKF, Dave Watts / Steve Bonnett, Peter Jackson / Reggie and Dave Brown / Mike Gaillard.  Maybe it was the weight of that huge breakfast that saw us come away with only a point for a half, by Dave and Steve, as Barkway ran out the winners 7 points to 1.

Saturday 6th April saw us return to Newmarket for our next match in the Cambs Inter Club League.
Our pairings on the day were John Black / MKF, Graham Handscombe / Tony Leigh, Steve Bonnett / Reggie and Dave Brown / Mike Gaillard.  We were challenged by a very different team from the one we faced in the Derek Burridge, alas to say this one being even stronger and it saw us get just one point again, with a half by Graham and Tony, Newmarket the winners 7 points to 1.
Chips, sandwiches and a beer rounded off the day.

Saturday April 27th saw us on our travels once again, with a visit back to our neighbours at Barkway in the Jock Stewart knockout competition. As always a warm welcome and a hearty breakfast was on offer to start the day.
Our pairings for the day were Graham Handscombe / MKF, Steve Bonnett / John Black and Dave Brown / Reggie
Very cold and blustery conditions made the going difficult, with Graham and Malcolm winning their match things looked good, but our other pairs just failed to get over the line with Barkway winning 2 to 1

Sunday May 19th saw us at home for the first time this year with Heydon entertaining Meridian in the Cambs Inter Club League.
Our pairings for the day were John Black / Steve Bonnett, Graham Handscombe / Reggie, Dave Brown / Dave Watts and Gavin Thompson / MKF.
In a very close fought match we just failed to get that  much sort after win with  a half for Gavin and Malcolm and a win for John and Steve giving us 3 points to Meridian’s 5. The day was rounded off with one of Mrs A’s lovely curries.

Sunday June 2nd saw us entertain Barkway for our second match at home in the Cambs Inter Club League. After our fine breakfasts at Barkway earlier in the year it was only customary to return the complement with one of Mrs A’s fine breakfasts before the match.
Our pairings for the day were Dave Brown / Dave Watts, Tony Leigh / Steve Bonnett, Gavin Thompson / MKF and John Black / Reggie. With warm conditions and a strong breeze the Barkway boys found it tough going especially when putting on our sloping greens, with Heydon coming home the winners 6 points to 2. It’s always a pleasure to get one over on our neighbours!!

Sunday June 23rd saw us play hosts to Barkway once again in our annual 20/20 Ryder Cup format over 27 holes.
With Dave and Reggie struggling to get a team together for this event great thanks must go to John Searle and Ken Rowbotham for stepping in from the Venerables to help us out. After coffee and bacon rolls we played 9 holes greensomes, 9 holes fourball better ball and 9 holes singles, with Barkway managing to run out the winners by 27 points to 21 thus retaining the trophy and bragging rights for another year.
A few beers and one of Mrs A’s curries rounded off the day.

Sunday July 21st saw Heydon back on the Cambs Inter Club League trail again with us entertaining Newmarket for the return match.
Our pairings for the day were John Black / MKF, Steve Bonnett / Anthony Robinson, Gavin Thompson / Reggie and Tony Leigh / Dave Brown.
As usual Newmarket sent a strong team and it proved to be a tough day for us, with a win for John and Malcolm and a half forTony and Dave it gave Heydon only 3 points to Newmarket’s 5. Chips and sandwiches rounded off the day.
Footnote for the day.
Steve and Ants watching in awe as their Newmarket opponents play out of our long grass and get backspin on the green. IF ONLY !!

Saturday August 17th saw us play our final match of the season with our return match at Meridian in the Cambs Inter Club League. Our pairings for the day were Steve Bonnett / Dave Watts, John Black / MKF, Tony Leigh / Dave Brown and Reggie / Gavin Thompson. Having already realised we could not progress any further, we still wanted to make a good show and with our first pair Steve and Dave getting a win things were looking good, but with only a half by Tony and Dave B it gave us 3 points to Meridian’s 5.

Many thanks must go to Reggie for organising the matches, a very hard task with our lack of seven day members, to Dave our captain and to all those who played in the matches over the summer months.
So the Champagne goes on ice for another year and the hope is that we can get a team together for next year.

Steve Bonnett