The Club's Results
FaT vs. BPBC Golf Challenge, May Term 2005
A golf match held at Cambridge Lakes pitch & putt, between Black Prince and First & Third.
Sun 15th May
Match report
Not satisfied with the annual near misses in the cricket, it was felt by some members of Black Prince that there should be another event in the sporting calendar at which to take on the young blood of First and Third. It had to be something where the experience of age would outweigh the enthusiasm of youth, and so Sunday 15th May saw the first (hopefully annual) challenge between the golf teams of First and Third and Black Prince.
University player in residence Richard Bullock generously agreed to captain the First and Third team, while the responsibility of organising the Black Prince side fell to me. The format was agreed to be a miniature version of the Ryder Cup with a series of matchplay contests contributing points to the overall total. The venue was the 9-hole pitch and putt course at Cambridge Lakes - a course perhaps lacking some of the prestige of the Old Course at St Andrews, but definitely more suited to our expected level of competence.
At 10am on the day of the match, the two captains met up to reveal the chosen order of play. The resulting match-ups promised a good deal of excitement, with the two matches between university players Bullock and Mackowiak really catching the eye.
First and Third were quicker off the mark than Black Prince, taking the two fourballs matches and the first foursome to race into a very useful looking 3-0 lead. Black Prince fought back in the remaining foursome though to take their first point of the day and go into the five singles matches 3-1 behind.
As the match continued, it became clear that the weather was turning out sigificantly better than the overcast conditions promised by the previous day's forecast. And as the weather began to heat up, so did the competition. The absence of James Scott, missing presumed hungover, meant that Black Prince won the first singles match by a walkover and thus were only a point behind with four matches to play. As the final singles matches proceeded round the course it looked like Black Prince might snatch an unlikely victory, with early leads taken by Mackowiak, Blackburn and Ingram. But it was not to be, as Bullock came back to beat his university team mate, and in matches that went down to the final hole, First and Third earned halves in the final two pairings to give them the narrowest possible margin of victory.
So, another year, another sporting match-up, and another narrow victory for First and Third. Special mention should go to Richard Bullock for earning his side a maximum three out of three points, and also to Chris Mycroft, more of an unknown proposition than Richard, who played incredibly consistently all day and finished with two and a half out of a possible three points. My thanks go to all the players on both sides, who played the match in impeccable spirit and made it a very enjoyable day. It just remains for me to lick my wounds, tend to my sunburn, and plan for our assault on the match next year.
Mike Goodson
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First and Third golf team
Scott lost to Byrne (walkover)
Bullock beat Mackowiak (2&1)
The turnaround came at the 4th. Jeff missed the green well left on the 4th hole, leaving a tricky chip to get close. Jeff's missed 4-foot putt on the 5th allowed me to get back to all-square. I went slightly long on 6, but had an easy up and down for a 3. Jeff found a horrid lie in the bunker, and was forced to play out sideways, with only an outside chance of saving par, which was not to be.
Having arrived at 1 up with 3 holes to play - a situation where I've managed to lose from a few times in University matches, it was important to ensure that I didn't give away holes stupidly. I found the middle of the 7th green - whilst Jeff hit his tee-shot slightly left and found a nasty lie in the rough. This led to another drop-shot for Jeff and saw me go dormie 2 up. At the 8th, we both hit the green, with Jeff's ball lying only about 6 feet from the pin. Having secured the par with a lag-putt, it was up to Jeff to make the birdie to stay in the match. As with many things in the round so far, luck was not with him, and the putt slipped past the hole, giving me a 2&1 victory.
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1. A typically and extr...
2. Close 3. The tension mounts [more...] |
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BPBC golf team
Peck/Fisher lost to Bullock/Shepherd (3&1)
Apologies for absence of pictures thus far... I'll try and get some up tonight.
Byrne/Bevan lost to Sills/Mycroft (3&2)
"Don't worry," said Jon, "it's all about momentum ..."
We duly halved the fourth despite me sending my tee shot into the trees on the right and Jon failing to clear the ladies' tee (helped admirably by the ditch that I'd used to such good effect on the 3rd), but a couple of execrable tee shots on the fifth saw FaT increase their lead to dormie 4up.
On the sixth, Jon decided his ball was far too dry and proceeded to send it for a swim whilst I fluked a par to reduce the FaT lead to dormie 3up. At the seventh, I left my tee shot slightly short, whilst Chris used his amazing ability to putt the ball to within a foot of the hole from anywhere on the green to halve the hole, a skill that served him so well during the rest of the day's play.
With the pressure now off and the loss guaranteed, BPBC duly won the final two holes without breaking sweat, aided and abetted by Chris showing Jon how to find water properly on the eighth (Jon's water shot was nowhere near as good as Chris', so Chris repeated his demonstration). We'd gained some momentum, but it was a case of too little, too late.
Mackowiak/Goodson lost to Bullock/Mycroft (2&1)
Byrne beat Scott (walkover)
As my plans were to go for another practice round at the time, I agreed to sub for his match against Mr Scott.
Mr Scott's failure to start resulted in a second strokeplay practice against Messsrs Goodson and Bevan; due to Goodson's captaincy duties we played our match between the two double-singles matches either side. I managed to card a 33, my best round of the day by a country mile and we were able to watch the drama of the other singles matches unfold around us.
Blackburn beat Summers (3&2)
Second tee, similar circumstances, far more relaxed, but no more talented... a complete air shot instead! I looked up from it to see everyone still looking serious and almost collapsed laughing. I think that released the tension as I then belted it to the back of the green - enough to win the hole. Despite finding the sand on 3, I recovered to win the hole, but the Eton Tee shot was superior to mine on the 4th and we were back to all square.
Suddenly I was getting visions of still being all square going down the ninth but my game was holding together while Alex, under pressure to get back into town and meet his sister, wasn't having much luck. I can't remember the 5th other than holing a pressure putt that won it for me. Alex's long game deserted him on the 6th and getting myself onto the green in 2 on the 7th was enough to ensure victory while he skirted the lake.
If that makes it sound like high quality golf, bear in mind that I was 14 over par when I won.
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1. BPBC
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<h3><a name="selectedresults">Selected Results</a></h3><h4>Match Details</h4><p><pre> FOURBALLS 3&1 R. Bullock & J. Shepherd 1 - 0 G. Fisher & M. Peck 3&2 G. Sills & C. Mycroft 1 - 0 M. Byrne & M. Bevan FOURSOMES 2&1 R. Bullock & C. Mycroft 1 - 0 J. Mackowiak & M. Goodson A. Summers & D. Holland 0 - 1 C. Ingram & J. Bevan 2 up SINGLES J. Scott 0 - 1 M. Byrne walkover 2&1 R. Bullock 1 - 0 J. Mackowiak A. Summers 0 - 1 S. Blackburn 3&2 C. Mycroft ½ - ½ G. Fisher D. Holland ½ - ½ C. Ingram <b>OVERALL MATCH SCORE 5 - 4</b> </pre></p><div align="right"><font size="-1"><a href="#top">^ top</a></font></div><hr>
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