Wellingborough Golf Club - Sunday 13th May 2018
The start of the Anglian League campaign began with a home fixture against neighbours Leicestershire. The Northants line up featured 5 changes from the last
Retaining their places were Miles Mudge, Mikey Chambers and Callum Farr, then coming into the team were Wellingborough boys Jon Harris and Jamie Milligan, Michael Farr, Lee Hitchcock and Luis
A sensational spring day, with only light winds and juicy rough to challenge the players, greeted us following a torrential downpour on Saturday afternoon which prevented either team from practising for more than 6 holes – despite this the course was in fabulous condition, superbly manicured and all agreed at the end of the day how well the course played and looked.
The foursomes
The Northants start to the day, with late
At this point, we were still at risk of losing all 4 matches in the session… the pairing of Mikey and Callum had fought back in their match to be level after 14 holes and at the same time Lee and Miles were leading 1up after 17 holes –
Back on 17, the Northants pair would make a bogey on the ever difficult 17th hole, which left 1 down and obviously
It was clear and obvious what was required from the
The singles order would be Callum, Mikey, Michael, Lee, Luis, Jonno, Miles and Jamie – we required 6 victories to win the match overall.
The feeling in the early stages of the afternoon, was the complete opposite of the morning – after 6 holes, Northants players led in the first 4 matches and despite Luis being on the wrong side of some inspired golf by Joe Hack (-4 through 6 holes), overall the picture gave us some optimism for the first time all day.
The remaining 3 matches were very tight early, but the focus moved again back to the front of the field. On reaching the 13th tee Callum had extended his advantage to 4up and would soon shake hands on a 6&4 victory, which was soon followed by the news that Luis’ opponent hadn’t taken his foot off the gas – leading to a 7&6 defeat for Luis. At the same
Focus moved ahead to the 15th green/16th tee – news came through that Mikey had won his match on the 17th green and Michael had also succeeded, with a 3&2 victory – so we had won the first three singles matches, with one defeat at this point, leaving us behind by 1.
Lee’s match reached the 18th tee, he was 1up. Both players hit the fairway, with Lee to hit his approach first, a beautifully controlled wedge which pitched into the slope and rolled back towards the flag at the bottom of the slope, leaving a 15 footer. His opponent, Jack Mayfield, was very slightly blocked out on the left side of the fairway, he played the only shot he really had and left himself a sloping 25 foot putt, which he would not hole, leaving Lee 2 putts to win his match, which he calmly managed to negotiate – scores now level, with 3 matches left on the course….
Jamie at the back was still in control of his match, Miles was 1 down playing at 7 and Jonno won 14 and birdied 15 to reduce his deficit to 2 down. Despite his best efforts Jonno couldn’t win 16 and was
This obviously left Jamie’s match on the course, 2 up playing 17 a fantastic pitch up the length of the green to tap in distance was enough to see his opponent concede the match. Leaving the overall score 6.5-5.5.
A fantastic fightback that the Northamptonshire lads should be very proud of – against a very strong team – the way the Leicestershire team play for each other and bond is one of the main reasons they are and have been successful so consistently over the years.
That said, the fight shown by our team on this afternoon is something we should take forward for the future and maybe remember that the preparation before a days play is important to
We move onto the Eastern Counties Foursomes event at Seacroft Golf Club in Skegness this weekend.
