Surrey Golf
Surrey 1st Team match reports
Match v Sunningdale
On the 11th February the Surrey 1st Team kicked off their 2024 season with their annual opening match at the world renowned Sunningdale Golf Club. The course and experience were as ever to the highest standard, and we thank Sunningdale and their members for their continued commitment to county golf.
After the wet start to the month both teams were greeted by a pristine day with both courses in immaculate condition. After an excellent breakfast we set out onto the New course for the morning foursomes.
Max O’Hagan and Freddie Surgery led out and performed to an extremely high standard (as was expected!) running out comfortable 5&4 winners.
Aadam Syed & Eoin Leonard formed a new partnership and were tasked with facing Dan Torrance & Jonathan Rafferty, sons of the former Ryder Cuppers Sam and Ronan. The match ebbed and flowed and ended up in a deserved half.
Terry Nicholls & Oscar Lent reformed their strong partnership with Oscar’s putting keeping them ahead resulting in a 2&1 victory.
The final match saw Alex Wells and David Corben 2up at the turn but some strong play from Sunningdale brought the match to the last hole all square. A strong birdie by the Surrey pair saw them sneak through 1up and put the score at 3.5-0.5 at lunch.
After a successful morning and a 5* lunch we recognised that Sunningdale would come out fighting in the singles to be played over the Old Course. All matches would make it to the 17th showing the strength of the home side and the high level of competition on display.
Victories for Sunningdale in the 1st and 2nd matches by the slimmest of margins brought them back into the game. However, wins by Freddie and Terry in the next two matches took Surrey to the brink of victory.
With Sunningdale’s captain Will Shucksmith out injured (and his match declared void) it left three matches remaining with Surrey needing just half a point for victory. Sunningdale were not done though and managed victories in matches five and six leaving the final match of Oscar Lent and Jonathan Rafferty coming up the 18th all square.
With Oscar in the middle of the fairway and Jon in trouble the result seemed a dead cert. However, after three shots each they both had circa six feet putts for par. Oscar’s would just miss and with the match result coming down to the last putt unfortunately for Sunnigdale their putt would also just slide past.
The result was 6-5 to Surrey.
We once again thank Sunningdale for their hospitality and commitment to the match and look forward to playing them again next year in equally wonderful conditions.
Match v Walton Heath
Following the well-earned victory at Sunningdale the Surrey 1st Team continued their spring matches on the 24th of February at Walton Heath Golf Club. The teams arrived to find an unexpected layer of frost, but thankfully this would melt quickly resulting in a perfect day for winter golf.
The foursomes would be played over the New course off the demanding purple tees. In match one Alex Wells and Freddie Surgery would face fellow Surrey 1st team players Month Holcombe and Oscar Lent. In a match for the bragging rights Freddie and Alex got themselves ahead and controlled the match winning 4&3, an excellent start.
Aadam Syed and Terry Nicholls followed and got off to a quick start making an eagle-two at the 1st hole. After this their golf was very controlled and they cruised to a 4&3 victory.
Max O’Hagan and Cameron Bell formed the middle partnership and quickly found themselves behind due to the exceptional putting of Dominic Griffiths. Try as they might to get back into the match, they eventually had to succumb 3&2.
James Brash and David Corben formed a solid partnership and after twelve holes were 2up. Birdies at the 13th and 14th took them to the brink of victory and after two solid shots at the 15th the match was done and dusted. 3-1 to Surrey.
The final pairing of Ben Palmer and debutant John Ingham looked to be struggling with Ben not resembling his usual game off the tee struggling with the rights. However, they would edge themselves back into the match and eventually come out 3&2 winners. 4-1 Surrey after the morning.
After a successful morning and a fantastic lunch, we knew that Walton Heath would come out fighting in the singles to be played over the Old Course.
In the first singles, Aadam Syed faced Surrey boy’s player Luke Metcalf. Aadam was imperious making four birdies and no mistakes to win 4&3, a great performance on a long, tough course.
Walton’s two young guns Oscar Lent and Monty Holcombe would get revenge for their morning defeat to reduce the deficit to 5-3. However, we knew we had a long tail to hopefully get us far over the line.
Alex Wells and Terry Nicholls would record strong victories by margins of 4&3 and 6&5 respectively to take us to the point of victory. Further wins by Corben, Brash and Palmer would extend the scoreline with the result 10.5-4.5. Ben Palmer would hit the pin on back-to-back holes showing the quality of his iron play in his victory.
Reassuringly for the captain the three afternoon defeats came to Walton players who are also Surrey 1st team players.
We thank Walton Heath for their hospitality and for providing such a strong test and look forward to our match next year.
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