Both teams arrived at St Mellons looking forward to a good day of golf, a win and the prospect of meeting old and making new friends. In most games Somerset seem to start very well only waking the South Wales Coast dragons up as the day went on.
Marcus Woodward, who was acting captain for the day played with Colin Davies against Richard Hird and Phil Cream, the home captain. Phil displayed a variety of shots from a variety of positions betraying his knowledge of the course. Stuggling with the slow greens Marcus and Colin were two down at the turn and never recovered finally losing 5 and 4.
A tight game followed with Rob Load and John Shakesby only beating Martin Price and Ray Hooper 1 up by winning the last having never been in the lead until then.
3 up after 3 it looked like Andy Balcombe and Rob Hirons were heading towards an easy win. However Dilwyn Bull and John Linton had other ideas and managed to half the match on the 18th.
The Somerset pair of Dave Boulton and Mark Swallow were slightly aghast as Jeff Price (playing with Colin Watkins) drove the first. South Wales Coast then went onto lose the hole! The Coast did recover and after being all square after 9 went onto win 3 and 2.
Judith Wenman played very well alongside Colin Watkins in a friendly game against Steve welch and Phil Slater easily winning the match 4 and 3.
Somerset were again 3 up after 3 in the 6th match and felt that they had the match in the bag. In trying not to be complacent Andrew Cardus-Hall and David Andow should have known better and were 1 down with 1 hole to play. This is when John Critchley, playing with Tony Dobbs played a wonderful 2nd shot to the long 18th to within a foot of the flag. A win for the South Wales Coast – 2up.
Another solid start by Somerset in the next match with a nett birdy by Phil Barrett and a 2 from Paul Chesney, both for a half! saw both teams being all square after 5 holes. This is when Graham Bartley and Andrew Eveliegh decided to turn on the burners and go 4 up around the turn. Back to back birdies from Paul reduced the deficit to 2 after 13 holes. The Somerset surge could not continue and although Phil used his shots, Graham did as well and his 20 shots took its toll – Somerset lost eh match 3 and 1.
In a great game played in the way that golf should be played Kevin Blakely and George Davis managed to win their match against Mike Mahoney and Mark Hudman 2 and 1.
At the end of the match and after a good meal South Wales Coast won the match 5 1/2 to 2 1/2.
