Bernard Darwin Trophy (55 & over) 3rd July 2014
Easily our strongest side for many years lined up, with potential to win the trophy, but unfortunately Ashley Brewer had to pull out the day before through illness, and Jeffrey Bonas, OHGS President stepped in against Uppingham.
Jeffrey Bonas & Jeremy Fricker lost 5/4; Jamie Warman (Capt) & Stephen Posford lost 3/2 (3 birdies by Uppingham on last 3 holes); John Sheffield & Nick Tindall won 4/3. Uppingham were then beaten in the next round by Repton, who later beat Charterhouse in the final.
In the p.m. Plate Posford & Tindall got 24 pts; Bonas & Warman 23, and Fricker & Sheffield 22, moderately steady, but not good enough to win.
Senior Darwin (65 & over) 17th June 2014
Having beaten Eton each of the last 3 years, we drew them again in the 1st round, and this time we had a pretty strong side. It was very close.
Andrew Aylwin & Stephen Posford lost to Mark Dixon & P Caldecote by 1 hole – (a)
Stephen Proctor & George Rothman halved with A Clegg & Rupert Daniels – (b)
Stephen Bois & Jeffrey Bonas lost to Jeremy Deedes (Capt) & L McNeile 3/2
(a) At the short 7th in match 1 Eton & Harrow were close together in a bunker; Eton played first, their swing moving the Harrow ball. No-one knew the rule, and we reserved our right to query it. Some way up the longish 8th David Norris, OHGS Captain, caught up with this match, and was asked to look up the rule, not easy for an unusual rule & on the hoof. He mistakenly (understandably) found the “ball moved during search” rule (no penalty), and Harrow accepted the loss of the 7th – which should have been a half with a 1-stroke penalty against Eton under the correct rule 18-3 (b). Had the correct decision been made it might have affected the outcome of that match, which was lost by one hole, and of the whole tie – see (b) below. But as Harrow had accepted the (wrong) ruling, we naturally didn’t want to raise it again, especially having beaten Eton the last 3 years! AA put his back out during the round, and was not at full strength, which didn’t improve our chance in match 1, and he could not play in the afternoon.
(b) Harrow were 1 up in match 2 playing the 17th. Eton holed a long curly downhill putt, and just then news came through that we had lost the other 2 matches. S Proc had a shorter uphill putt for a half – he had holed several similar putts. We all agreed it would be sensible to stop immediately, and call our match a half.
Eton, having gained confidence by beating Harrow at last, went on to beat Winchester in round 2, and then Repton in the semi-final. Eton then lost the final narrowly 1-2 to frequent winners Tonbridge.
Senior Darwin Plate (stableford 17th June p.m.)
Two of our pairs, Posford & Bonas, & John Foster & David Norris (OHGS Capt) did not have the best of afternoons. But Bois & Hugh Stephenson were out in an outstanding 19 pts (scratch), and added 9 coming home for 28 – a very good scratch score. The winning total (best 2 pairs) was 54 pts, which is normal & creditable, and the 18 scored by our 2nd best pair left us quite well short on 46.
Very Senior Darwin (75 & over) 18th July
Harrow 1 were David Moseley & Ivan Stewart. Ivan has won the Age/handicap event several times, once with DM. They received the maximum 15 strokes, being 170 years old, helped by Ivan, a robust 93. They did not have the best of days, partly because all had to play from the normal yellow tees, which were set pretty far back, making for some long carries.
Harrow 2 were Stephen Proctor & George Rothman, aged 157, receiving 2 strokes. We thought we had not done nearly enough, with only 30 points (against a par of 80), and were surprised to find that 30 was the winning score, we tieing with a Marlborough pair who pushed us into 2nd place by 1 point on count-back. 1st and 2nd in the main scratch event were 2 Wellington pairs, with 34 & 31 pts, eclipsing our 28 scratch pts comfortably.
ATB
George Rothman (Capt SD & VSD)
