Hampshire Golf Limited
Hampshire Lose to Surrey
Team Hampshire headed in to their match against Surrey knowing that a win would secure the league having won the first 2 matches against Kent at Liphook and Sussex at East Brighton. A tough day for preparation on the Saturday saw thunder, lightning, wind and heavy rain come through the course but despite all of this the course at Blackmoor was presented beautifully for a day of top quality match play golf.
The morning Foursomes got off to a tight start with the matches toing and froing back and forth with both sides taking, then surrendering, leads. Jo Hacker and Darren Walkley won early with a solid 4&3 victory but this was quickly offset by the lead pairing of Toby Burden and Charlie Forster who were beaten 2&1 by a particularly strong Surrey duo.
Stu Archibald and Robbie Wheeler, playing in the last match, shook hands on the 15th Green after struggling to get a hold in their match. A string of lost holes around the turn proving too much to overcome. That left one foursomes match left on the course which remarkably went down the 18th hole after the pair of Martin Young and Ryan Henley fought back from 3 holes down to square the match on the 17th green having won the 14th, 15th and 17th holes.
The 18th at Blackmoor provided it's usual dramatic scene as the match approached the slopey green- the Surrey pairing wedged in first and saw the ball trickle down the steep slope to the front fringe, leaving the door slightly ajar for Martin Young to capitalise. As the Hampshire ball headed to the green on the perfect line the celebrations for the lads in Blue had almost begun but a late amount of spin took the ball down the hill to nestle in a tricky spot next to the ball of the Surrey pair. The Surrey pair played a perfect Putt from the front of the green which was as good as conceded which piled the pressure on to Hampshire pairs shoulders, with the balcony full of onlookers, Henley left Young with one of 'those' putts which, on this occasion, managed to stay out of the hole and left Martin with his hands on his hips in disbelief.
With the lunchtime score making better viewing for Surrey at 3-1 the Hampshire team had it all to do in the singles- however, with the individual matches being such a strong element to the team in the first two league matches, Hampshire knew it was still possible to overturn the deficit. On this occasion though, the opposition came out firing and despite some spirited displays the putts down the stretch refused to fall and the top 3 games all went down to the stellar Surrey players. The middle order rallied with Henley and Young seeking revenge for their morning frustrations, both winning soundly 3&2.
Stu Archibald shook hands with Surrey Captain, Dave Corben, after a close match which resulted in a friendly half at the same time as Jo Hacker went down against Surrey's anchor man in the last group. That left the last man on the course in Robbie Wheeler who struck possibly the shot of the day from the right rough on the 18th to within 2 foot of the pin to win the final point of the day.
Despite the result not going our way, the Hampshire spirits were still high as the team reflected on what was undeniably a disappointing day. Huge progress has been made this season and the team have been very close to winning both the league and six man qualifying events. A few putts here and there and things may have panned out slightly different. There is still a chance that Hampshire could come out on top of the league, but we're relying on others for that to be the case. But, from our perspective at least, it would have been nice to win the league on our own terms.
The final scores as well as individual hole by holes can be seen by clicking here and we are looking forward to the rest of the Summer season of golf.
#BeProud #BeHampshire
Created by intelligentgolf version 10.1.2.
