We played our much-anticipated return match against our nemesis – table-topping Gailes yesterday.  The match went right down to the wire with the final match finishing in the dark on 18th green for a one-up result to the Gailes pair making the team result three matches all. It was a long afternoon for this last group of players with the number one and two players having finished their matches nearly two hours earlier!

The individual match summaries were:

• Number one Ian Burgess was down early but fought back well to be all square after a good up and down on the 10^th hole.  Tree trouble on the 12^th, where his drive finished up not much further than the ladies’ tee, put him back behind the eight ball and he could never quite get his game back on track and finished losing 3/2.
• Darryl Stuckey had a day out, dropping putts from all over the place. A birdie on the 10^th took him to six up and a couple under the card. Despite a few splutters, he was able to hold on for a 5/4 win.
• Richard Garnham came up against one of the top Australian over 55s tennis players, David Evans, who also plays a very handy game of golf. Richard battled hard but in the end, Evans was too solid and won 5/4.
• Ash Stewart, like Darryl Stuckey, was in superlative form.  He holed a bunker shot for a birdie on the 2^nd and also rammed a 40-foot putt in from off the green for another birdie on seven.  His opponent had to sink a tricky 10-foot putt on the 8^th to hold the match to seven up for Ash! At the turn, it was eight up to Ash and from there, it was a matter of time with the final result a 7/6 win to BGC with Ash being one under the card at the end.
• The first 4bbb match pitted Peter Martin and Mike Murphy against two old stagers from Gailes. Marto had to give two shots to each of his opponents and with one of them being John Roach, a former scratch marker, it was going to be tough. However, Roach found the going tough for most of the day dunking fall balls in the BGC waterways. Although Marto wasn’t hitting it all that well for the first nine holes, Mike was in fine touch and our boys were four up after nine.  The Gailes boys then promptly won the next four holes including a fabulous wood shot by Roach on the 13^th to 10 feet. BGC then decided to get serious and won the next three holes to close out the match 3/2. BTW, when you next talk to Marto, ask him where he hit his tee shot on the 4th.
• The final 4bbb match took forever, or so it seemed. There was never much in it.  Richard Peacock started things off beautifully hitting his second shot to six inches on the first hole for an easy win. The long-hitting Gailes pair were not to be outdone however and worked their way back to be one up at the turn.  As play continued on the back nine it became obvious that all four players were struggling badly to work out the greens (where’s Ash Stewart or Darryl Stuckey when you need them?). Leigh Madsen from Gailes had two bits of luck on 15 and 17 when his drive finished one foot short of fairway bunkers. Given that on each hole his partner was out of contention, it was a huge stroke of fortune. As Richard and Patrick Dixon were walking up the 18th in the gloom they needed to win the hole to square the match.  Richard hit his 2nd shot safely on the green to 20 feet but Madsen knocked his into 5 feet and when Richard failed to hole his putt the match was over – one down.

Rob Brown, Team Captain