Posted on behalf of Team Captain Wayne
Off to a winning start…. Got to be honest, a tough job this Captain malarkey and was expecting great battles with the Pistol Nights and we surely weren’t disappointed!
Mick Sweetman PK’s Captain was very organised and matches were drawn with some interesting line ups.
First match saw Scott & Jane up against Mick himself & Junior Club Champion Charlie Payne. Unfortunately Jane’s additional shots on Scott didn’t come into play as I was expecting with Charlie playing off 19 and hitting the ball a country mile! A tough first match that was lost on the 16th 3 & 2, but everyone played well, so bad luck guys.
Second match saw Me (XL) & Tom (XXXL) up against Baz Sweetman & Kevin and Perry. Before Tom tells you, my putting was a disgrace and having been two up after the 12th hole, we did ourselves no favours in losing the next three holes in a row to go one down. Then the match deciding moment was Baz’s drive on the 16th, must have carried the ball over 250 yards, but never to be seen again. Unfortunately KP had already played his second shot into the woods, but then stuck his 4th shot onto the green, so Big Tom into the rescue with a par, which ended up getting us back to all square with KP missing his putt for five net four. Eventually the match came down to a nine feet putt on the 18th, which Baz made to half the match. A match either team could have won, so a good halved match (which I would say as Captain!!).
Post match drinks… it looks fairly respectable at this stage. It didn’t last, especially when Palace scored a goal!
Third match was the trusted Phil & Hew combination, which did not let us down against Jay Massey & Peter Endecott (AKA Badger). A fantastic display of golf by both teams, including Jay sinking five birdies in six holes, but only getting halves with Phil making some net birdies himself. I heard the match was five up after seven holes with Hew playing excellent golf on the front nine. An impressive 3 & 2 win, so bring it on for the next match boys!
A notoriously “colourful” Pistol Knight in his natural environment… in the bar with a kn8b drawn on his forehead.
What can I say about the final pairs match, complaints were coming in before I even heard the result! The last minute substitution of Chris with Dan Thompson (newly crowned Caterham Cup pairs partners, no least!) did not disappoint with a 3 & 2 win themselves, so I’m not sure why Dom Khan & Graham Payne were complaining! I was expecting at least a 6 & 5 win, but well done lads and keep the form going for the next three matches.
First singles line up was our in form player Mr Lee Feasey, who unfortunately went down 5 & 3 to Dan Donegan, I didn’t hear to much about the match, but understand a few drinks were had the night before.
Second singles match saw Alan Gollop take on young Sam Allen, which looked a tough match on paper, but Al brought in a fine 3 & 2 victory, so at this point we had a 7 – 5 score line in our favour with just two matches to come in.
The third match saw Club Captain Winkle taking on Bob Betts. PK’s were expecting nothing less than a win from Bobby, but with Mark’s impressive form of recent, he won 2 & 1 to make sure we couldn’t loose on the day.
The last match of the day saw Simon Greenwood take on Steve Bracey, which like the second match of the day all came down to the 18th hole. Simon apparently should have gone one up on 17th having missed a putt, but Steve had the last result winning the 18th hole. Hard luck Mr G, but well played to get it to 18th.
Unfortunately I had at wedding at Reigate Hill golf club, so didn’t hang around until 10pm to have a few drinks, but a fantastic result, which kept me drinking all night with a smile on my face.
Many thanks to Matt Jaggs & Lee Snashford for arriving as reserves, very much appreciated.
Our next match is against Bobs Bashers on Sunday 12th November, so get ready to do battle again and thanks to everyone for a brilliant win.
One very happy captain!
Mick’s final score sheet
Sunday Swindle
Large Swindle on Sunday saw James M scoop the overall with a very impressive 40pts. Nice one James. Al Savs may have nipper No.2 about to arrive but a stonking 23pts saw him take the front nine win and Scottie had the back with 20pts.
James’ solid play took the overall but he kept his distance from Tom and Scottie afterwards who both shot gross 2under for 38pts and 37pts respectively. Top golf all round. As for the rest of us… well we turned up and it didn’t rain. Nice.
Phil and I had a top match with Jay and Badge. Thanks both for the game.
Badger struck the ball very well off the tee all day, and it was all we could do to fend off a flying Master Massey who went on a birdie burst from the 9th. In the face of Jay’s fantastic scoring, Phil’s nett birdies on 9th and 11th, and my up and down on the 12th, we just managed to keep noses in front.
A cracking game, played in a superb competitive spirit… proper Swindle Ryder Cup matchplay.