The ten of us who made it to Radyr Golf Club were met by the ever supportive and convivial Hugh Phillips & Huw Richards and by great hospitality and service from the club.

The usual catch-up chatter over the bacon rolls had to be interrupted at short notice relative to the tee times, to announce the pairings and format for the day (better-ball pairs for The Spring Cup and best individual stableford points for The Peter Owen Trophy)

The first four-ball was made up by the pairings of the Spencer brothers and Mike Clark and Nigel Jones (who, by some odd quirk for such long-standing attendees, had never played in the same OB fixture as each other let alone played together before). This group had the look of ‘solid bankers’ for points and also had the distinct advantage of having Mike’s local knowledge as a member of the club to help navigate the course.

The second fourball was made up of three of the most consistent OBGS performers of the last couple of years (and Harris Cup teammates) Anthony Balance, Martin Like, Rob Calcaterra, and Phil (‘Billy’) Thomas, still new to the game and returning for his second outing after a fantastically enjoyable debut at The Glamorganshire last year. I paired the HRT boys, Billy and Rob, together; leaving Anthony and Martin as a pair.

Peter Owen and I made up the final pairing; happy to buggy around behind the field enjoying the course, scenery and, hopefully, hitting the occasional half-tidy golf shot (still sorry, Rob!)

The day passed happily; the course was in great condition, with fast, true greens proving tricky when you (eventually?) reached them having navigated the significant breeze, quite tight fairways and challenging, hilly layout; all in beautiful surroundings (Augusta-like, in Peter’s view).

The scoring was pretty steady, with everyone in the 30’s across the board. The Spencers were feeling pleased and confident in the clubhouse, having pipped Mike and Nigel for the honours in their fourball. Rob was not his at usual consistent best, which has taken him to a single-figure handicap, so was glad of Billy’s humour and contribution throughout. Peter and I were just pleased to have had a buggy. Which left Anthony and Martin to challenge the Spencer brothers…. As it turned out they produced the two best individual scores of the day, the lowest of which matched Jonathan and Charles’s combined score and their better-ball score of 39 points eased the cup away from the Spencer’s by 4 points. Martin’s pre-match chat about not having played much this year (too busy yomping and paddling ridiculous distances in the Arctic circle!) proved marginally more believable than normal, as his 34 points fell well below his usual OBGS scores and he was beaten by the evermore consistent Anthony, whose 37 points earned him the trophy as he, too, heads towards a single-figure handicap. Congratulations, Anthony.