STC Match v Virginia at BGC

Thursday was our tenth and last Senior Teams Challenge match in the round robin section of the tournament this year. The boys once again produced a sensational team effort to win five matches and draw one – the second time in three weeks we’ve gone through the day without losing a match. The afternoon started beautifully with perfect weather, little breeze, and the course staff having done a brilliant job to remove the large tree which had come down in yesterday’s high winds and lying the full width of the 3rd fairway, 120 metres from the green. Virginia had two of their top players return from overseas and so we were expecting a tight tussle in our must win match to keep our top spot on the ladder. As is usual, even though we were slightly ahead in more than half of the matches after six or so holes, the pressure was on with birdies happening in all matches. In the end all players played the back nine very steadily to give Virginia no chance of victory. Here are the individual match accounts:

1. Ian Burgess was called in at the last minute to cover for Peter Lansom who had a work commitment pop up. Burg was up against a very good golfer in Greg Tagg.  Both players played solid golf with never more than a hole or two in it. The lowlight of the match was on the tricky 20th with both players recording double bogeys. This was a hole, similar to the 8th, where Ian put one of his shots in the water.  In spite of this he was able to hang in there and take a one hole lead going up the 18th hole.  Both players found the green in regulation but Tagg was the one to drop a long birdie putt, win the hole and finish the match all square

2. The diminutive Peter Hargreaves faced off against the even more diminutive Karl Vorhauser and his Crocodile Dundee hat. Peter, who had already put together a very impressive season without a loss, continued on his way yesterday. He is the ideal match player, knowing when to put the foot down and when caution is the best option. Even though the match went to the second last hole, Peter was never in trouble and finished a 3/1 winner. Well done on a superb season Peter

3. In match three we had the ‘comeback kid’ Mark Davis up against Virginia captain Paul Downey. Once again Mark played up to his moniker after being two down early in the second nine and one down playing the 16th. After a good drive he flushed his second and, but for a horrid sharp left bounce, he would have been on the green in two.  However, he was not deterred and calmly walked into the left front bunker to prepare for the tricky downhill/sidehill shot. His swing was pure and the ball popped up and onto the green and rolled down into the hole for a winning eagle!  All square. His drive on 17 was so far right it was in sight of the machinery shed. Well inside the penalty area, he had tree branches in his backswing and high trees to hit over, as well as a precarious lie amongst the leaves and ground matter. Ralph Hockings and I both agreed that he had no shot and should take his medicine and just chip it out sideways. Mark was having none of this and proceeded to play a miracle shot over the trees to within a metre or two of the green and an easy two putt winning par.  One up.  He hit a very solid drive up 18 to the left side on the fairway with an easyish 60 metre shot over the front bunker. We all watched with bated breath as his lob wedge appeared to not be big enough. However, his ball carried the bunker by a few inches and ran up to ten feet short of the hole, a putt which he dropped for a birdie and two up match win.  Another great comeback Mark. Downey should be commended on his effort to take the match all the way because his knee is not in good shape after a golf partner in a motorised cart ran over his foot and wrenched his knee recently causing him to hobble all the way around the course

4. In the fourth singles match where handicap is taken into account, Peter Martin was up against Craig Hall, who would receive a two shot handicap.  What a match this turned out to be.  Marto has been in superlative form of late, including a great result last week in the Seniors Matchplay Championship on the Gold Coast.  He continued on with that form in the first four holes yesterday to take a four up lead after four holes. At this stage I thought that, given the form he was in and the experienced match player that he is, I could put his match ‘in the bag’ and concentrate on other closer matches. This, however, was not to be, with Hall winning the next four holes to square the match after eight holes! From there it turned into a bit of a dogfight. In the end Marto held his composure to make a very solid par on the 17th hole for a 3/1 win. A great season for Marto with six wins from eight matches

5. The first 4bbb match pitted Craig James and Richard Garnham against Darren Shepherd and Noel McLean with low marker Shepherd giving a shot to each of the BGC pair and two to his partner. Rich and Craig played some very solid golf, holing shots from off the green to be five up and a combined two under the card after eleven holes. Rich birdied holes one and 19 and Craig birdied hole six. The Virginia boys fought back hard winning the 20th (12th hole played) and 14th to be three down and have a glimmer of hope. BGC however snuffed that hope out with very solid halves on 14 and 15 to win the match 3/2 – a convincing win to BGC. Well done Craig and Rich

6. The final match had Richard Peacock and Clint Auty playing Michael Joel and Peter Trappett.  Our previous match against Virginia had Joel playing number two in the singles so he was the low marker yesterday, giving a shot to Clint, four to Mr Peacock and five to his partner. This was a match where Richard and Clint combined very well such that when one had a bad hole the other stepped up. The early going included pars and birdies with BGC winning holes four through six to take a three up lead.  Sloppy bogeys on seven and nine let Virginia back in but from there Richard and Clint played par or better golf to win the match 4/3. A great result for BGC.

So, our second day in eleven years of STC golf without dropping a match. There is no stopping this champion team.  From my calculations we will finish on top of the combined ladder across the three round robin groups with 25.5 points. This means we have made the semifinals for the first time in more than ten years. We will host a semifinal in the week of 7 to 11 July. At this stage it could be on Tuesday 8 July teeing off off the 10th from 11:46 am. The ladder in the other two round robin groups is not complete and so I’m not sure at this point who our opponent will be.

Thanks again to Gillian Hirst for her outstanding fare after yesterday’s game – Virginia were very impressed and we all enjoyed the yummy treats.  To Marcus Hartup, the course was in superb condition and the fact that none of the players were aware of the fallen tree on the third hole is testament to your team’s outstanding work. Thank you to yesterday’s supporters: Geoff Crozier, Andrew Mullis, Julie Brown, Ralph Hockings, Peter Lansom, Peter White, and especially Greg Wright, who I forgot to thank for this support a few weeks back also. If I’ve missed anyone, apologies.

When I know more about our semifinal match I will let you all know.

Browny