We didn’t manage to retain the cup; we came a respectable 3rd, pipped to second by a point, a distant 9 points off the winners.
It was a bright, blustery day with a threat of heavy, prolonged showers – a tough day to play Royal Porthcawl.
The team of
Martin LIKE (16.9), Tom ATKIN (7.5), Rob CALCATERRA (9.8), Anthony BALLANCE (13.2), James THOMAS (3.6), Matt SHERVINGTON -JONES (11.4), Gareth POWELL (1.2) and Kevin NOBLE (13.3)
met in the clubhouse for the pre-match bacon rolls in buoyant mood. A full complement, as selected, joined, as ever, by Peter Owen, as convivial as ever. Everyone was in on good form, no tales of woe and looking forward to a testing round in the wind (though it was Gareth’s first round since damaging ankle ligaments in June)
It was nice catching up with some of the regular returnees from the other schools, with plenty of good-natured banter, particularly as holders of the cup.
As holders, we had the ‘privilege’ of hitting the first tee shot, playing off the first tee – Martin said that he was looking forward to it (!?) but was saved (?) by Tom stepping up, smacking one off to the right, and then Martin promptly smashed his drive right up the middle of the fairway (we’ll gloss over what happened for the next couple of shots though).
We were paired with players from Bromsgrove and Dean Close and all had brilliantly enjoyable rounds in our respective four-balls, irrespective of the golf being played.
Harrow, Clifton and Malvern started on the 9th tee. Rugby and Cheltenham started on the 13th.
It was always going to be hard to retain the cup, even more so given the windy conditions around the beautiful but brutally punishing course, even though the rain, magically, missed us.
On the day, James had a staggeringly good round, standing on the 16th tee three-under and desperately disappointed to finish level par !! Gareth managed to hobble round on his bad ankle, even while carrying Kevin, playing some incredible golf to come in only a couple over par. Tom, Martin, Rob and Anthony did their thing, all playing steadily and dove-tailing to good scores. Matt, understandably, found it tough to contribute with James playing out of his skin, but topped up their score when needed – remembering to put his golf shoes on when he was waiting on the first tee probably helped. Even Kevin made an occasional contribution.
James and Matt led our scoring with a fantastic 45 points; Rob and Anthony came back with a really good 41 points; Tom and Martin scored a very sound 39 points; Gareth scored 37 points, on one leg, with rare contributions from Kevin. Our three scores to count in the match totalled a really good 125 points – only 2 points off our winning score last year, in much windier conditions.
Huw Richards and Edward Harris, grandson of the cup’s founder, joined the team and Peter for the fantastic post-match meal. Edward gave his customary speech but with a twist; he had found that it wasn’t Monmouth who had held the cup from the war years through to it’s revival by Peter; CCB won it in a match in 1939 that no-one had known about until Edward’s secretary discovered a Western Mail match report via internet research. Another win notched up for us !
It was a great day – what’s not to enjoy with great company, around a stunning golf course, in great condition, in windy but fine weather, rounded off by a really good meal with loads of chat ?
Even the match scores made it hard to feel disappointed; we were pipped to second by a single point but we were never going to match a Malvern team with the best pairs scores of 48 and 47 points (yes, there were quiet murmurings) and a team score of 134 points – 9 points better than their score last year, in much windier conditions.
Winning the cup last year was a very enjoyable bonus; we’ll come back and try again next year.
Position School Points
1 Old Malvernians 134
2 Old Harrovians 126
3 Old Breconians 125
4 Old Bromsgrovians 124
5 Old Cliftonians 123
6 Old Rugbeians 118
7 Old Cheltonians 113
8 Old Decanians 108
