Report from Men’s 1st Team Player/Manager Phil Dormer;
On Sunday the 18th August The Mens 1st team travelled to Oxford to play BB&O at the stunning venue of Frilford Heath. The course was set up great with the greens rolling fast and true.
The Morning Foursomes got underway with Hertfordshire’s in-form superstar Harry Cox and Team captain Laurie Owen leading the way.
Harry and Laurie showed the class and form that they have displayed all season from the start against BB&O’s strongest pairing of Carl banner and Ben Quick, cruising to a 3&2 win
Match 2 was lead by Team manager Phil Dormer and Vice manager Niall Johnston vs Ed Davis and Hamish Hall. This match was a battle of pars, birdies and eagles! Hertfordshire took an early advantage over the first 8 holes then the match turned on its head from the 9th – 13 hole, when Phil and Niall found themselves 2 down standing on the 14th tee, Herts won the 14th and made good up and downs on 16, 17 and 18 to halve the match on the 18th and secure half a point.
Match 3 saw Luke Colgate and rookie Adam Tridgell take on the young pairing of Drew Rolfe and Daniel Butteriss. Unfortunately the BB&O pairing was too strong and went on to win the match 5&4.
The final foursomes saw the same score line as match 3 but in reverse. The ever solid Connor O’Brien and young Louie Bloxham cruised to a 5&4 win over the BB&O pairing
2.5 – 1.5 in favour on the Herts team at the halfway point.
The afternoon Singles
Match 1 was of course Harry cox vs Carl Banner. Harry cruised to a 4&3 win, with Carl saying after that Harry made him feel very humbled.
Match 2 saw Connor O’Brien looking to finish of his season with another point and he sure did with a crushing defeat over Ed Davis 6&4
Match 3 and it was Niall’s turn to keep the early pressure going with a 5&4 win over Hamish Hall and that made it 3 from 3 in the pm singles.
Match 4 seemed like it was going to go in the favour of BBO with Adam being 4 down with 6 to play, only to make a great comeback to square the match on the 18th great effort and gain half a point.
Match 5 was much tighter game with Phil being 1 down through 10. A chip in on 11 and some fine short game skills and pressure saw Phil finally win 2 up on the 18th.
Match 6 went to the 18th hole all square and both players hit tee shots in the right rough, with Laurie playing a special punch cut from under the trees to the front edge. Unfortunately a 3 putt from Laurie handed a 1 hole victory to BBO.
Match 7 also went the way of BB&O with young Louie losing to Connor Jacob 3&2
Match 8 was closed out by County stalwart Luke Colgate 3&2 and a very solid performance and well deserved victory.
Final Match result
BB&O 4 – 8 Hertfordshire
This result puts the 1st team top of the SEG league if only for a short while until Essex next play, but at the least secures a 2nd place league finish for the season.
I want to thank the whole playing team and the Admin team for their continued support and especially for those giving up their valuable time to play this season. Overall its been a great season with us bringing a few new faces into the set up. Everyone has given their all this year and the results have shown that by only losing the 1 league match to a very strong Essex side.
We look forward to going again in 2025.
