The 2017 Hewitt saw us drawn against Merchiston at Deal in R1, a tough assignment as Merchiston won the Hewitt as recently as 2014.
Our team had several new faces, with altogether now 6 players under 25, including 2 Oxford Blues, fresh from their Varsity match defeat of Cambridge. With weather set fair, we teed off with optimism. The top pairing of Jan Brugelmann and Dan Carver had an epic battle of top quality golf, eventually halving their match after Merchiston birdied the 18th to secure the half. A costly 3 putt on the 15th eventually proved decisive.
Our youngest pair of Freddie Copestick and Miles Kellock went out second and battled all the way to just lose out on the 18th.
Off third was Jerry Fricker and Henry Howard Jenkins, the Oxford captain, and they outclassed their opponents, winning comfortably 3&2. A fine debut from Henry.
Fourth pair was John Frederick and Oxford blue Freddie Bruce, who lost 3&2 mainly due to some poor driving off the tee.
Bringing up the rear Jamie Warman and Nick Tindall, two of the Hewitt stalwarts with over 270 combined matches and a very high winning percentage. This was an expected win for Harrow, so it was something of a major shock to discover them 6 down after 9! Just a bad day at the office, with every mistake heavily penalised. Eventually they lost 4&3.
Final result 1.5 – 3.5 loss.
All in all the team had a very enjoyable week both on and off the course.
It was hugely encouraging to witness the fine play from the youngsters, which offers great hope for the future.
Many thanks also to Stephen Bois, Geoffrey Goddard and David Norris for their encouragement and support and for the generosity of Old Harrovians who provided financial support for our younger members who would not otherwise have been in a position to represent Harrow.
