Somerset Golf Captains visited Wells Golf Club to play the annual match against Wells Golf Captains on a sunny day with a gentle breeze – ideal conditions given the weather that 2023 seemed to have in store for golfers!
The match, as ever, pits a number of regular SGC players for Wells against a hand-picked squad from SGC. Wells Captains hold a commanding lead in the records of matches, winning 14 against SGC’s 5 with 2 matches halved. It was clearly going to be a tough battle to improve on that! The course was in great condition and proved a good test for the 28 golfers on the day.
SGC Captain for the day was Colin Davies who teamed up with Dean Evans against George Davis and John Chillington for Wells. The home players took full advantage of their local knowledge and despite some good golf from Dean and some support from Colin, the Wells pair proved too strong, particularly towards the end of the match and they won on the 15th by 4&3.
Keri Allchurch and Brian Reeves headed out in the second match to play the two Robs – Coate and Swift. The Robs were two up after 3 and held their lead until the final hole when at 1 down, Somerset made an unbelievable up and down to square the match – some comfort following the mullering Keri suffered in South Wales previously!
A strong pair of Rob Moss and Chris Warcup did battle with Malcolm Terry and Steve Rowse. Rob’s length off the tee seemed to spur the Wells pair to outdrive him and they held off a fightback from the SGC pair who managed to square the match early on the back nine, but eventually lost on the 17th by 3&1.
Paul Hicker and Harold Lidbitter were out in Match 4 against Andy Williams and Dave Hayward. The Wells pair outplayed their opponents around the greens and with two unanswered birdies the Wells Pair triumphed on the 16th green by 3&2.
Richard Dore and Ian Suttle were out in Match 5 against Steve Bocquet and Dean Hamilton. The Somerset partnership worked very well together and despite the obligatory banter, bad jokes and cursing, the match went all the way and a deserving draw was earned.
Match 6 saw Murray Parsons and Graham Load take on regular teammates for SGC, Mike McKay and Stuart Mann. Murray was christened Murry (par) mint for the round and a match that was played in great spirit saw Somerset earn a win on the 16th by 4&2 – a rare victory on a tough day for SGC.
The final Match pitted Bob Acland and Alan Hurford against Wells Captains dynamic Lady duo of Erica Klim and Tina Davies. Bob’s putting kept the Somerset boys in touch but when Tina made four consecutive pars the match slipped away and despite Bob’s birdie on the Par 3 17th, Erica also made a two and sealed the 2&1 win for the home pair.
Overall, a 5-2 loss for SGC which was closer than it sounds with two of the losing matches going to the 17th. Great hospitality was enjoyed by the SGC team as usual and they will return next year with hopes of adding to the meagre return from this match over the 21 previous matches stretching back to 2000.
