Report: The match was played in fine weather over a course whose length (5339 yards) and Par (67) belied its balanced and exacting test of players’ calibre. It was in excellent condition and was well presented on our match day

 The morning foursomes were very keenly contested with 4 out of the 5 finishing on the final green. The one exception was in Match No 4, where Steve Palmer (making a welcome return to the team following some knee surgery) and Martin Cashnella produced an excellent win by 3&2 over two experienced opponents

 At lunch, the match was all square at 2.5 points apiece

 The afternoon singles proved to be a truly nerve tingling affair - particularly to a beleaguered, anxious captain who hadn’t seen such excitement since Kilmarnock beat Heart of Midlothian (away), in the last match of the season -  to pip their opponents to the Scottish 1^st Division title in 1965!

 Five of the 10 singles matches finished on the last green and in every one of those, the Somerset player earned something, either a win or a halved match. In this regard, the players’ focus and determination were commendable.

 In Match No 6, Peter Davies did not let his opponent’s albatross on the 7th hole deflect him from his task. As he pointed out: “it’s only one (expletive deleted) hole, you’ve just got to get on with it”. Get on with it he did and played a nerveless last hole to secure a fine victory 1 up. Matt Lazenby did not feature in any of the afternoon’s final green shenanigans because he beat his very experienced opponent by 4&3

 So, the upshot of all this excitement was that we halved the afternoon singles resulting in a tied match overall 7.5 v 7.5 with no less than 9 of the 15 matches finishing on the final green

 During the convivial hospitality which followed, both team captains acknowledged that, if they were so inclined, they could ponder on a sufficient stock of “what if” scenarios to keep them awake for many nights!

 So, there is some wholly understandable relief in the SGU Seniors’ camp to have finally broken our duck. However, we need to continue to up our game as our last SCL match (on 25/08 at Bath) is against Glamorganshire who soundly beat us last year and, earlier this season, put Cornwall to the sword.

 Bring it on

Alex Kidd

SGU Seniors’ Captain