The 2015 Challenge Cup Match
Barton under Needwood Golf Society versus Friends Golf Society
Wednesday 29th April 2015
Aston Wood Golf Club
Write-up by Graham Thorpe
The sixth annual fixture with the Friends Society took place at Aston Wood Golf Club on Wednesday 29th April 2015.
The team for this year's match
Gary Tyler (qualified from finishing 2nd in 2014 League Cup)
Phil Latham (qualified from finishing 7th in 2014 League
Cup)
Alan Heard (qualified from finishing 8th in 2014
League Cup)
Peter Meaney (qualified from finishing 11th
in 2014 League Cup)
Paul Jobbins (qualified from
finishing 19th in 2014 League Cup)
Jeff
Sackett (qualified from finishing 22nd in 2014 League Cup)
Adrian Marchant (qualified from finishing 34th in 2014
League Cup)
Wayne Conlon (qualified from finishing 54th
in 2014 League Cup)
Hilary Stevenson (qualified from
finishing 62nd in 2014 League Cup)
Alan Hall (qualified
from finishing 72nd in 2014 League Cup)
Friends were the 'home' team for 2015 and chose Aston Wood Golf Club for the venue.
BUNGS had to field a depleted team this year due to late withdrawals and illness plus a declining interest it appeared for the match from the majority of the membership.
In the absence of Mark, Gary took up the responsibility of captain for the day. Friends refused to wave the three points even though we offered to play 10 versus 12 so all their team selected got games. They weren’t prepared to risk the final result
Morning fourball-betterballs
| Gary Tyler (13) & Alan Heard (8) | beat | Soc Efstathiou (2) & Jason Nicolaou (4) | 2/1 |
| Adrian Marchant (15) & Paul Jobbins (11) | beat | Warren Jobe & Paul Dudley | 2/1 |
| Peter Meaney (12) & Jeff Sackett (20) | beat | Andy Wassall & Tom Serghi | 5/3 |
| Barry Alambritis & Saleem Zahid Din | beat | Wayne Conlon (20) & Hilary Stephenson (19) | 7/6 |
| Phil Latham (16) & Alan Hall (24) | half | Naim Butt & Shahab Din (Bob) | A/S |
With the bit between their teeth the underdogs set out to prove a point or two.
In the first game Gary birdied the first and were still 1 up
at the turn. Friends got it back to all square at the 15th ,
then Gary again birdied the 16th and Alan won the 17th for BUNGS
to record a handsome win against Friends strongest pair.
BUNGS WIN 2 &1.
Game 2 featured the late substitute flying macho and his
partner Paul Jobbins. Like his driving they started well, being
2 up after 3 holes, then relaxed all square after five, one down
at the turn, still in relaxed mode 3 down after 12 holes and
then just like a popeye as he opened his tin of spinach they
combined as a team and won 5 holes in a row to take the match 2&
1.
BUNGS WIN 2 &1.
Game 3 featured our steady performers Peter Meaney and Jeff
Sackett teamed up for the very first time. At the turn they were
4 up and although Friends pulled one back after 12 holes, Bungs
finished successfully winners 5 & 3.
BUNGS WIN 5 & 3.
Game 4 saw our team of Wayne & Hilary up against the long
hitters of Friends. They battled hard to keep the match alive
but eventually had to bow to the inevitable and lost 7 & 6.
FRIENDS WIN 7 & 6.
Game 5 featured Phil Latham veteran(of these matches) and
rookie Alan Hall, quite a bit of banter between the pairings for
this match saw Bungs take 2 hole lead after nine holes, then as
Friends came back and pushed the game to the last hole Alan
missed a short putt to win the last but somehow the ball missed
the hole and the match finished all square.
Match
Halved.
The boys had done well and we had obviously rattled the Friends team.
Morning Score - Friends - 1.5 / BUNGS - 3.5
Afternoon singles
| Soc Efstathiou | beat | Alan Heard | 4/3 |
| Jason Nicolaou | beat | Gary Tyler | 5/4 |
| Warren Jobe | beat | Paul Jobbins | 4/3 |
| Adrian Marchant | beat | Paul Dudley | 5/3 |
| Peter Meaney | beat | Tom Sergio | 7/6 |
| Andy Wassell | beat | Jeff Sackett | 6/5 |
| Wayne Conlon | half | Barry Alambritis | A/S |
| Saleem Zahid Din | beat | Hilary Stevenson | 2up |
| Phil Latham | beat | Naim Butt | 2/1 |
| Shahab Din (Bob) | beat | Alan Hall | 5/4 |
The afternoon singles went to Friends as we were over powered by the long hitters and low handicappers.
Bungs players put up a good contest with Peter and Adrian taking maximum points for us from both their matches.
The question is would we have been better with a full team to share the burden more? Perhaps Friends eliminated their two weakest players we will never know?
Having failed to get a full team this year it must question the future of this annual match, and before we consider future games perhaps our members should vote for it’s continuation or abandonment as it has been difficult this year to fulfil the fixture.
Afternoon Score - Friends - 6.5 / BUNGS - 3.5
Friends then claimed the three points for the two players BUNGS were short to give a final match score of:
