See how the rep squad did against the Army.
Going into the final match of the season, we were looking to complete a clean sweep, having already defeated the Navy, Police and RAF. We knew this would not be easy as, in recent years, the Army have been our most difficult opponents and inflicted our only loss in 2008. We were also playing the match at Belton Park, a familiar course for the Army and a bit of an unknown for the Civil Service. That said, we had a good team and went into the match confident.
The morning foursomes were tight as expected and, at one point, through nine holes, it looked like we were going to be in trouble with three matches well down and only the Newcastle duo of Simon Coultas and Jonny Todd in control and comfortable ahead. They went on to win comfortably 6 and 5 but it was hard to see where any further points were coming but the team rallied.
Dave Kershaw and Phil Ridden won the last two holes to win at the last and in the final match the experienced pairing of Rob Godley and Captain Steve Kellett recovered from three down to gain an important half and the teams were tied with 2.5 points a piece.
The singles were even closer. For once, Mark Betteridge and Phil Ridden in the top two matches were unable to get points on the board and the Army edged ahead. The Civil Service then won the next three matches. Jonny Todd and Dave Kershaw both gained maximum points for the day, and then Bryan Ingleby again showed the team determination with a birdie at 17 to draw level and the holing a 4 foot put at the last to grind out a victory. Debutant Rhys Fletcher then showed real character and the depth of talent of the Civil Service by beating one of the Army's top players, 2 and 1 with solid golf. Team Captain playing at 10 was on top form and won convincingly and the Civil Service had won 5 singles so could not lose, but still needed a half point.
Rob Godley and Simon Coultas were narrowly defeated, which left one match out on the course and it was not looking good as Terry O'Donnell was two down with two to play. A great birdie at 17 took the match to the last. The tension was getting to both players and Terry needed to get up and down from the side of the green to pressure his opponent who faced a very difficult two putt from the front of the green. Terry chipped to 6 ft and his opponent just managed to get inside Terry's chip, so a 6 footer for a chance of the Civil Service grand slam and cool as you like, in it went.
The pressure was on and, despite a good attempt, the Army putt lipped out and the Civil service had won all 4 matches, defeating the Army 8-7.
What is particularly pleasing is that we have been able to have such a successful season and been able to give debuts to a number of new players. So many people have contributed to the team over the 4 matches, more than 20 different players from England, Scotland Wales and Ireland.
A great achievement and something to try and match in 2010!
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2009_-_ARMY_TEAM_SHEET
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