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Grafton 1st round result – Malvern 2 1/2; Whitgift 1/2

North Norfolk can be the most pleasant of places, even if a little hard to reach. The sun can shine; the sea can sparkle; the birds can sing, and the coastline can be spectacularly beautiful. Or not. Friday morning began – for your correspondent – with the not-so-gentle sound of a 50mph northerly rustling the roof tiles and horizontal rain lashing the window. Several layers of windproof and waterproofs later, and we arrived at the clubhouse of Royal West Norfolk GC, which is sometimes cut off by the highest tides and looks somewhat forbidding as it appears on the coastline in the gloom of an early (7.40am) start. The clubhouse has an automatic door which saves its members from having to open it or close it in the teeth of such a wind; a wise investment. A certain sense of hysteria was noted in those within, everyone amused at the ridiculousness of trying to play golf in such conditions, which, even if the rain relented in time for the start, caused the Brancaster sand dunes to deposit much of their content in the eyes of the players (and of spectators – it stings!) and on the greens, which ended up looking as though they had just been dressed as part of a maintenance programme.

I cannot remember seeing so many provisional balls being hit (by both sides); eventually the custom of the players not teeing off walking down the fairway whilst their partners are teeing off – to save time – fell by the wayside; on too many occasions, those players were needed back on the tee because of an errant drive. It was chaotic. Bags of clubs and trolleys were being blown over time and time again. Another oddity was having to wait for a ball to stop oscillating in the wind before hitting it; on one occasion Malvern putted up to within six inches of the hole, and waited – waited for the ball to be blown backwards into the hole. It did eventually fall in, but only after eleven seconds had elapsed on the watch, when only ten are permitted! That could have got tense, had the players allowed.

The opening drives of both Whitgift and Malvern had to be retaken, both having been aimed left and finishing 100 yards right; Whitgift lost the hole to a seven. I believe one four claimed afterwards that on the first three holes, they took 12 drives (ie two provisional balls on each hole). Apparently, in practice the day before, the short 4th was reachable with a nine-iron; on Friday, they were taking a three. It was brutal, all the more so when the rain reappeared mid-round.

All three of Whitgift’s pairs (above – Harrison Sellers/Jack Raison; Max Stanley (mostly shrouded)/Toby Kemp; and Matt Webster/Nick Baxter-Brand made a shaky start, and the scoreboard (had there been one) would not have looked kind to Whitgift during the outward half. A left-to-right wind does not appeal, apparently, to Nick B-B; however a right-to-left wind does. Small wonder then, that things got better for his pairing at the turn; having been 4 down after 9 holes, he and Matt Webster started a recovery, as did Sellers/Raison, who had been 5 down after 8, and that only because their opponents did not insist on the 3-minute deadline for finding a ball being strictly enforced. They recovered too, and won two holes on the bounce. The middle match  however, was closer throughout, and this spectator at least (actually, I was the only one!) thought that Kemp/Stanley had the more solid game and would ultimately emerge winners; but perversely, this went from 1up to Whitgift after 8 holes to 2 down after 13.

Could the mother-of-all-comebacks be on the cards? Unfortunately, no. Sellers/Raison eventually went down to a 3&2 defeat, whilst both matches behind them went down the 18th. Kemp/Stanley got back to level at 16, only for Stanley to be blown off balance during his tee shot to 17, resulting in a topped drive. With that hole lost, they played the last 1 down and did not manage to win the hole. Baxter-Brand/Webster continued their recovery all the way, eventually levelling things up on 18. So, a closer match than the scoreline suggests, and fingers are crossed for a good performance in the Solihull Salver, effectively a plate competition for both first and second round losers.

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The Solihull Salver result was disappointing in that Whitgift scored 85 points (scratch, between the three pairs) which left them about mid-table and 15 points off a terrific 100 points scored by Birkenhead, the winners. But what a difference a day makes! To the weather, in particular. Any team scoring 85 the day before would have been top of the heap. And Malvern, Whitgift’s successful opponents the day before (second round losers also can enter the Salver), only scored 83.

In the main competition, Loretto ended up winning the Grafton Morrish, beating Alan Scovell’s local school Woodbridge in the final. In another example of how fickle our game can be, Charterhouse were losing semi-finalists this year – a year in which they finished a full three places outside the qualifying positions at Royal Wimbledon (four places behind Whitgift). How did that happen? Apparently, there was a late withdrawal, two weeks before the competition, and, after an email to all the non-qualifiers, Charterhouse emerged as the only one who could put a team together in the available time.

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The season meanders to its conclusion, and the final open meeting of the season took place at Cuddington on what was, at first, quite a bright afternoon; it was only in the latter half of our round that the showers started to move in, and we got a little wet. Nothing too bad however, and it certainly did not adversely affect the scoring, which was generally impressive. There were seven scores of 34 points and upwards, but the leading three all came in the first group to go out; former President Dudley Thompson scored a magnificent 40 points, winning the Autumn Cup, edging out his playing partners Mike Berners-Price (38) and Ben Rudall (37). Ironically most people seemed to score better on the second nine (when it was raining) than on the first (when it was not)! Prizes were awarded by Tony Harris over Cuddington’s ‘Golfers’ Grill’, which appeared to be greatly enjoyed.

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The Autumn Tour visited …… Norfolk. Apparently this is the country’s driest county, although that reputation was not generally enhanced over the three days of the tour. Admittedly the first day’s golf at Bungay was technically in Suffolk, by the slimmest of margins, but the weather was most definitely coming from its neighbour and it was very very wet, testing to the limit the waterproof qualities of the outerwear. So wet that the golf lasted merely the ten holes necessary to get back to the clubhouse, which was a shame because Bungay is a nice course, and a bit of a steal at a £33 green fee. The Imperial Hotel in Great Yarmouth was our respite for two days, and very welcome it was, offering heated towel rails with which to dry out several layers of clothing. Albeit named in a different era, and showing the age of numerous seaside hotels, the food and the service were imperious in quality – no doubt fostered by the 51% ownership by its staff (source: Peter “I talk to people” Kelley).

Gorleston on Wednesday morning was not quite as wet as the previous day, probably because the wind was so strong that it blew most of the rain on to Bungay and beyond. With the previous day’s results rendered null and void, this was the first round to count towards any awards, but stableford scores varied between 17 and 30, indicating the difficulty most of the party found with the conditions. Another nice course, but with its coastal location making it vulnerable to erosion over the years, forcing it to buy an area slightly further inland on which to build more golf holes when necessary. Definitely a test when the wind blows.

Great Yarmouth and Caister GC on Thursday was a different proposition altogether. Built in and around the racecourse, this was most definitely third out of three in terms of quality – ‘by a distance’ in racing parlance. The greens were generally good but, even allowing for the hollow tining being done, some of the fairways resembled Big Side on a bad day in the 60s. The best of the turf was on the racecourse itself, an area which is ironically deemed ‘ground under repair’ for golfers. Scoring however was better, because of the sunny and relatively calm weather, by an average of about four shots compared to the previous day.

Tony Mason was a deserved winner, hoovering up with scores of 30 points and 34 points on the two days, and emerging as overall winner and eclectic winner, as well as leading Cross’s to retention of the ‘house’ trophy. Martin Hayes showed his class in terms of  the number of ‘nearest the pins’ that he won. Thanks are due to John Gould and Alan Scovell for the organisation of yet another successful tour, with Tony Harris, Jerry Hamley and Nigel Huxtable helping out with the admin.

A rare sunny day, for the most part, saw us turn up in reasonable numbers to Hever Castle GC – or at least try to turn up. We had been warned beforehand that there would be roadworks outside the club, but they proved a little more expansive than had been expected, to the extent that all approach roads were marked as ‘road closed’, except that some of them really weren’t. Anyway, most – but not all – made it through.

Hever is a nice course, but very long, so probably not for the faint-hearted; its 17th measures well over 600 yards. And there is plenty of water; it has its own version of Augusta’s ‘Amen Corner’, except that Augusta does not have the geese!

Nick Chatham (left) overcame all opposition, including his brother and his other half, and scored an impressive 32 points, to lift the President’s Prize (a very heavy box from Fortnum & Mason). He narrowly beat Alan Scovell (31) and Martin Hayes (30). Brother Mark Chatham and Jerry Hamley won the two ‘nearest the pin’ prizes.

In addition to the prizes for the day itself, a presentation was made to Martin Hayes (right) of an ‘Outstanding Contribution Award’ for his many feats over a 44 year OWGS career, including 102 Hewitt appearances, plus 59 in the Grafton Morrish and Cyril Gray, combined. Furthermore, his overall win rate exceeds 60%, a significant achievement. This year, the icing on the cake has been to captain Whitgift’s winning team in the 2024 Cyril Gray (see separate news item), scoring five points out of five in his own matches.

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We started with a lunch, followed by a 2pm tee-off in 4 groups. During lunch we observed a minute’s silence in memory of Ken Anderson, who sadly passed away the previous week. In the end we had 3 players tied on 36 points, a commendable score given the very tricky greens. Tony Harris (photo, left, with match manager Alan Blok)  took first place on a 6 hole countback, and so won the Hornsey Walker trophy. Don Anderson came second, and so won the Veteran’s Cup (photo, right). Martin Hayes played sublime golf playing off a 2 handicap, but had no luck with his many birdie putts, so finished in an unlucky 3rd place on his 36 points.

The winning Whitgift team, with trophy – Nic Gates, Richard Gibson, Martin Hayes, Nick Edwards, Jonny Ufton, Neill Williams

CYRIL GRAY 2024 – a tournament win for Whitgift

The Cyril Gray is a scratch foursomes competition played every year at Worplesdon, and contested by 32 of the 64 Halford Hewitt schools; it is limited to players over 50 years of age. There are three pairs per side, and the competition is a straight knockout, one school against another. Whitgift have won the Cyril Gray on two occasions, in 1974 and in 1999, twenty-five years apart, so those with an eye for symmetry were in eager anticipation of the 2024 event. The sense of expectation was increased by the prospect that captain Martin Hayes would be able to call on the services of three or four very capable golfers who have just turned 50, with all the advantages that brings in terms of relative fitness and strength.

Day 1

A week that was generally sunny began with a first-round tie against Ampleforth, on tournament Wednesday.

The team for round 1 was (photo, back row) Jonny Ufton, Richard Gibson, Mark Haswell, (front row) Nick Edwards, Martin Hayes, Alan Scovell. Gibson & Edwards led the way and were never in serious trouble, beating their opponents 5&4, and so the overall win depended on one of the other pairs. Hayes & Haswell, playing second pair, were generally ahead through their round, initiated by a superb approach on the 1^st from the left hand rough to about six feet from the pin, by Haswell – but it got close on one or two occasions, whilst the third pair (Ufton & Scovell) fell away on the back nine. So, an eventual 3&2 win for Hayes & Haswell was welcome, and the 2-1 win qualified the team for the introduction of Neill Williams, so successful the previous year, and the experienced Nic Gates, who were available for the following rounds.

Day 2

Fettes were the next opponents, a school with six tournament wins and a 7-2 playing record against Whitgift. Former captain Tony Mason has especially fond memories of them (Fettes beat Whitgift in the 2014 final). The suspicion early on was that Fettes, perhaps with knowledge of Neill’s arrival, had played the ‘undercut’, by putting their weakest pair out first against Hayes & Williams (photo).

Whether or not that is the case, Hayes & Williams cruised to a 9&7 win, and whilst the two matches further back were closer, Whitgift emerged overall winners by 2 ½ – ½, with a 4&3 win for Gibson & Edwards, and a half declared in the other match when the overall result was decided.

The going got significantly tougher in the afternoon, against more, and still familiar, Scottish opposition in the form of Watson’s, who also held an historical edge against Whitgift, this time by 5-3. Martin Hayes himself decided on a change of order for this match, playing Gates & Ufton as second pair, with Gibson & Edwards playing third. Despite stepping up against strong opposition, Gates & Ufton were always in the match, and after six holes, Whitgift were ahead, albeit narrowly, in all three matches. Then, shock horror, around the turn Watson’s nudged themselves ahead against Hayes & Williams, whilst at the rear, Gibson & Edwards were showing their superiority, pulling 4up after 13 holes. The middle match started to look key, and Gates & Ufton were hanging in, still 1 up after 12. The cut and thrust continued down the stretch, certainly in those top two matches, and both matches completed the 16^th hole at evens. With the third match now won, in the top match Whitgift found themselves needing to hole a knee-trembling five-footer for par on 17 to stay level, but Hayes rose to the challenge, and frayed nerves (mine anyway) headed towards the 18^th hole, with the two remaining matches still level. This could go either way.

Hayes sent his drive on the last about 290 yards down the middle of the fairway, whilst his Watson’s opponent was probably about 50 yards further back. Watson’s approach was to the left-hand side of the green and toppled over the bank into quite a deep swale, whilst Neill Williams, ever the calm executioner, delivered a 150-yard wedge to within four feet of the hole. Watson’s failed to make par and conceded the match, thus giving Whitgift a semi-final berth.

Such is the delicacy of these matters, with handshakes exchanged but little in the way of backslapping, that Whitgift’s celebrations failed to convey themselves to the match following, and so neither Gates nor Ufton knew that the overall result was decided, and neither did their Watson’s opponents. Clearly both would have seen that the top match had concluded, but with what score?! So, imagine the relief of both Whitgiftians, and the dismay of the Watson’s pair, when Watson’s won the hole – and everybody watching just shrugged their shoulders. It’s probably fair to say – and understandable – that both pairs were annoyed with their fellow team members and supporters! Hayes put it down to his desire to sharpen their match practice, unaffected by knowing the result up top!

A 2-1 win for Whitgift, in what proved to be the closest tie of Whitgift’s tournament.

Day 3

The final day dawned, with the good weather still on offer, plus a semi-final against local rivals Epsom, who had beaten Glenalmond, Eastbourne and Blundells en route. Epsom and Whitgift players generally know each other quite well, because they often play practice matches against one another, and a great many of them are fellow club members at Walton Heath. And on this occasion, whilst Whitgift reverted to order of strength in their pairings, Epsom appeared to flip their order, with the strongest going last. Match 3 was going to be tricky.

It was. Try as they might, Gates & Ufton never really got into the game, were six down after twelve holes, and lost soon after. However, the top two pairs took things in their stride and both emerged as fairly comfortable winners, with everything over by the 15^th hole, leaving time spare in the morning to catch up with the Seniors competition where Tony Mason and Peter Blok were representing Whitgift (you need two players with a combined age of 140 for this one) over one round of scratch stableford. Tony and Peter grew into the round and finished with 25 points, good enough for third place behind Canford and King’s Canterbury.

One team without any time to spare, however, were Chigwell, who were battling Merchiston for the remaining place in the final. Playing in the second semi-final is always hard because you are at least half an hour behind the first semi, and have to play catch-up over the lunch break, with little time for even a sandwich. This is compounded if, as in Chigwell’s case, your match goes to extra holes; one of their number was seen stuffing a sandwich into his bag for the final. Meanwhile, Whitgift had a fairly relaxing lunch ……

Miracle of the Macon

Domaine de Rochebin Macon Villages 2022 is described as “Deliciously light in body, vivaciously fresh and clean. Peach stone fruits, pear, apple and melon with a hint of cream oak and nuttiness. Refreshing, balancing acidity with lovely light minerals.” Empirical analysis suggests it is also good for your golf.

Certainly Gates & Ufton, soundly beaten in the morning, emerged stunningly fortified in the afternoon, playing in the third pair with a refreshed freedom and confidence. A rifled iron into the fourth green by Gates set up Ufton for an 8-foot birdie two and set the tone for the front nine, from which they extracted a 3-up lead.

The top two matches were much closer affairs and fluctuated either way, and therefore the balance of the entire final fluctuated in turn. Hayes & Williams made a relatively slow start and were 1 down in the early stages, but made a strong recovery on the 13^th and 14^th, eventually winning on the 16^th after their opponents hit a wide tee shot. Gibson & Edwards, on the other hand – apparently playing Chigwell’s strongest pairing – lost a hard-earned lead on the 12^th when driving out of bounds, and could not recover, going to the 17^th tee two down. By this stage, all attention was back on the third match, which reached the 15^th green with Gates & Ufton still 3 up, but with Gates marginally wide with a 15-foot effort from the side of the green to win the hole and the match. 3up with 3 to play, and a crowd of people around the par 3 16^th green, including the Cyril Gray President in a buggy holding an inviting glass of wine – was it the de Rochebin? Gates hit an iron about 25 foot past the pin, straight but all downhill from there. Chigwell were closer, so Jonny Ufton had to putt  first, hitting a finely judged putt which was never moving fast but still managed to trickle past the hole, leaving his partner with a 3-foot putt, but importantly, uphill. Chigwell just failed with their effort from about 15 feet, leaving Nic Gates with the opportunity to make the winning putt. Which he duly took (photo).

The official result appears to have been 2 ½ – ½, which implies that Gates’ winning putt was holed before Whitgift were beaten 2&1 in the second pair, but Gates & Edwards appeared to accept that they had lost. And who would begrudge Chigwell, who had fought so hard in their first ever final? And without the chance to indulge at lunchtime!

Congratulations to all who played, including Messrs Haswell and Scovell in round 1. Martin Hayes emerged from the week with five points out of 5, followed by Neill Williams 4 out of 4, and Richard Gibson and Nick Edwards, both 4 out of 5. Nic Gates and Jonny Ufton won the deciding match and are seeking sponsorship from de Rochebin.

Drink responsibly.

Alan Scovell’s Captain’s Day was held at Purley Downs (Purley Ups and Downs to the less fit amongst us) in early May. A reasonable turnout, no doubt inspired by the prospect of more Fortnum & Mason biscuits amongst the prizes, took to the course on a warm and sunny day – quite a change from the year’s weather to date – and were rewarded by greens in top condition, running true and (very) fast. Views right across London failed to distract the more diligent players, and Don Anderson (right) came out top, for the first time in …. er …. days. His score of 38 points was two ahead of David Absalom in second and three ahead of Alasdair Grievson,  the latter making his first appearance in a society meeting and, by his own admission, more accustomed to being beaten by Ian Chicken in our knockout competition. The biscuits were shared liberally with prizes also handed out for those nearest the pins on the par 3s, and just about anybody else that had turned up.

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The Combined match (the OWs playing alongside the Masters) against the School took place on a very bright Wednesday in May. The school team was a mix of ages (with boys from the Lower 1st through to the VIth form) and handicaps from 1 to 16, very similar as it turned out to those on on the OW and Masters side. So a good match was in prospect. And so it turned out – with a narrow 3-2 win for the OWs/Masters. 

There were some astonishing reports from the course. Tony Harris reports that his schoolboy opponent hit the back of the 204-yard 16th with a 7-iron; his schoolmaster partner hit the 350-yard 9th with a mishit drive; and most impressive of all, OW Harrison Sellers (far left in the group photo) scored an albatross on the par-5 10th hole (468 yards), holing his 60-yard second shot – yes, 60 yards. Do the maths. Harry explained his 400-yard drive by the fact that it caught the downslope – others pointed out that the downslope only starts after about 330 yards. Some feat and (probably!) the first albatross in OWGS history.

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About 115 schools enter the Grafton Morrish; broadly any of the schools affiliated to the Headmasters’ Conference are eligible. To narrow this down to the 48 that can contest the finals at the end of September, regional qualifiers are held. Whitgift falls in the London region for this purpose (curiously, Rugby do as well, while Dulwich contest the South-West!), and qualifying happens each year at Royal Wimbledon GC. This year’s event was on Sunday, May 19th and 14 schools turned up in the hope of winning one of the six berths available for the finals at Hunstanton and Brancaster. It was a brilliantly sunny day.

The qualifier is an 18 hole scratch stableford, for three foursomes pairs. Whitgift’s team (captained by Toby Kemp who was unfortunately injured) was Harry Sellers/Carl Hills; Joe Carmody-Firth/Max Stanley; and Nic Gates/Nick Baxter-Brand. The received wisdom before the event was that 80 points would be enough to qualify, based on previous years’ experience, but the greens were still a little soft after all the rain we have had. Still, Whitgift’s eventual score of 88 points (with the pairs scoring 31, 31 and 26 respectively) looked easily enough, especially when proven-winners Charterhouse, who were Whitgift’s playing partners on the day, only scored . However it was a close-run finish. Eton (winners of the Hewitt in April) scored 97 points, with two of their pairs scoring 38 and 36 (gross 69 and 71 respectively), KCS 90, Epsom and St George’s both 89, WHITGIFT 88, followed by three schools on 87 (Harrow, Rugby and St John’s) only the first of which qualified automatically for the finals (on count back). Phew! Great scoring but a nervy end to the day for many; Charterhouse, Rugby, Westminster, St Paul’s and Highgate being Hewitt schools who missed out. No wonder some maintain that the Morrish is more difficult to win than the Hewitt – and that was just qualifying!

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Another fine day saw the OWs take on the Old Alleynians in the annual ‘South London Derby’ at Tandridge. This is always a friendly and well-supported event on both sides and again, it was 16-a-side, with the OAs fielding a fairly low-handicap side including three of their Hewitt side. Whitgift didn’t field any, and had only three players with single-figure handicaps, against seven from the OAs. So the OWs generally were in receipt of shots, and not giving them!

There was some good golf played, especially by the society’s captain for the day, Jeremy Stanyard and his partner Kevin Powell, who played comfortably better than his handicap. Stanyard & Powell prevailed 5&4 and were back in the clubhouse before anyone else. The OAs Jonnie Waugh drove the green on Tandridge’s 16th and furthermore found the back tier where the flag was. This was a very close match which the OAs eventually won on the 18th. Another OA, Hugo Avshu took the prize for the longest drive on the par-5 9th hole, leaving himself only a pitching wedge to the green; however he could only halve the hole with Alan Scovell. Alan and partner Roger Oldfield (the grateful recipient of two shots on some of the holes!) eventually won this match 2&1. Overall, the OWs emerged triumphant by 5 matches to 2, with one halved.

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Every year, Royal Wimbledon host a schools’ putting competition, now named the Gordon Thorburn Schools Putting Competition. Whitgift have only just been allowed back into the competition, having been relegated last time out. Each school team has four players, who play individually against their opposite numbers in seven other schools. There are four qualifying evenings and the leading two schools from each evening go through to a final in the following week . The bottom two teams in each group are relegated.

In this year’s event, Whitgift were represented by Matt Webster, Nic Gates, Richard Gibson, and Chris Blundell (an RWGC member). The team finished in fourth place out of eight, and the individual results are shown below.

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The Whitgift flag flies at Deal in preparation for the centenary competition which starts on Thursday  (cover).

And this is where it starts. The first round today (Thursday) v Shrewsbury at 11.30. Yesterday was Peter Kenyon Bowl and the society’s internal foursomes competition, the Thompson Tankards, at Prince’s. And 55 years after he last won it (yes, 55), Robert Hollidge won the Tankards, playing with Jeremy Stanyard (right). Well done, both.

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It was not to be, sadly. Shrewsbury played some great golf and edged the first round against Whitgift 3-2, with the fifth match going to the last hole. The scorecard doesn’t quite reflect the tension of the match, with the last Shrewsbury pair, 3 up with four to play, being pegged back by Richard Gibson (right) and Nick Baxter-Brand to 1 up with two to play. Whitgift had chances on both the last two holes but could only manage halves on each. To next year.

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The major surprise of the second round was to see Loretto (winners in 2021, 2022, and 2023) beaten by Uppingham. Repton (who lost to Whitgift in the first round last year) are going well and are already through to the quarter finals. Shrewsbury lost to Tonbridge.

In the Plate, Whitgift beat Liverpool in their first round match.

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Whitgift beat Clifton 2-1 on Saturday morning to reach the Plate quarter finals, where they will play Bradfield.

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Bradfield prevailed 2-1 against Whitgift in Saturday afternoon’s Plate quarter-final and will play Forest in Sunday’s semi-final; the other semi features Epsom and Berkhamsted.

In the main competition the semi-finalists are Bedford, who play Cranleigh, and the more familiar names of Eton and Tonbridge. But special mention must go to Brighton, who won three matches against Canford, Lancing and Fettes, before falling to Cranleigh in their quarter-final. Brighton’s previous record in the competition over the sixty three years since 1960 was Won 4, Lost 62 (Covid meant no competition in 2020). Some improvement!

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Following on from the comment about Brighton’s improved performance, we cannot conclude this Hewitt report without tipping our hat to two less-fancied teams who made their respective finals – and one of them won.

In the main competition, Bedford made their first ever final, beating Repton and Cranleigh on their way. However it was their luck to face Eton, who had won every single one of their twelve finals in the Halford Hewitt and were not about to let superstition get in the way of their 13th. And so the centenary edition of the Hewitt ended as had the first in 1924; a win for Eton.

Perhaps more surprising was Forest’s win against Epsom in the Prince’s Plate final. Overall, there is the impression not only that the standard of the competitions is rising year on year, but that the improvement is across the whole field of 64 schools. In football’s Premier League, it is often said that there are no easy games (with just a nod to Palace’s 1-0 win at Liverpool!). Maybe the same is becoming true in the Hewitt .

THE END

Tandridge GC hosted our AGM and very enjoyable annual dinner, with some team golf beforehand. The evening activity was joined by some 30 people, about half of whom ventured on to the golf course. The AGM itself saw Mark Chatham appointed vice captain, and Laurie Evans and Martin Hayes both elected to the committee. Mark also won the annual knockout tournament, and so was awarded the Challenge Cup, whilst schoolboy Paul Ellinghorst (photo) won the Walker Cup for his contribution to School golf. Paul demonstrated his potential on the golf course too, hitting his 223 yard tee shot on the par 3 13th to within six inches of the hole.

The meeting also saw the launch of society captain Alan Scovell’s appeal for funds to support younger players in the Halford Hewitt and other major competitions. Participation in these events can cost significant sums and the society’s goal is to ensure that players who are good enough for the teams can afford to play, no matter their financial status. The appeal looks set to be well supported by the society.

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Riccardo Fantinelli, OW (see Jan/Feb report) continues his winning form in the US; in early April, he won the Princeton Invitational, which is presumably his home tournament on the US inter-collegiate circuit. He scored at 6 under par for the three round competition.

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The society team’s efforts in the Halford Hewitt are recorded in a separate article under ‘News’

12 OWs joined nearly 800 others at a black-tie dinner at the
Grosvenor House Hotel in Park Lane to celebrate 100 years since the Halford Hewitt was first played. All 64 ‘Hewitt schools’ were represented, plus several guests, some of them representing the various courses on which the Hewitt has been played over the years.

The dinner was preceded by the draw for the 2024 competition, to be played on 11th-14th April. Whitgift were drawn to play Shrewsbury, in the first round.

l tor: Dudley Thompson, Oscar Bailey, Carl Robertson-Hills; Tom Bloxsome; Martin Hayes     

l to r: Jeremy Stanyard, Nic Gates, Chris Blundell, Stuart Hollins, Richard Gibson, Matt Webster

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The society’s 2024 fixture list has been published on this website. Please see under ‘Fixtures’ in the menu bar. The first formal event will be the AGM and dinner on Thursday 21st March, at Tandridge Golf Club. For the first time, it will be possible to play golf before the evening events; please see under Fixtures for more details. After that, the first formal competition of the year will be the Thompson Tankards, a foursomes event at Prince’s in April. This is our only society foursomes event of the year, and comes at the start of Hewitt Week (see above).

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From time to time, we hear of great things from Whitgiftian golfers playing in competitive golf outside the UK. Members may be aware that there have been a number of golfers who have left school and gone to the US on golf scholarships. One such is Riccardo Fantinelli (left), who has some astonishing accomplishments against his name; readers may recall his finishing runner-up in the British Boys Championship at Deal a couple of years ago.

Riccardo is now at Princeton, where he led the university’s golf team to victory in the 2023 Ivy League team event, and won the individual championship, with a score of 5 under par. He has also represented Italy in the 2023 World Amateur Team Championship at Abu Dhabi GC; the team finished fifth, one of their best three ever finishes in the event.

The late summer hot spell may have been winding towards its end when we visited Piltdown but it was still very good weather and, much as at Royal Ashdown the previous month, the heather was in fine shape! It all goes to show that a good golf course doesn’t need bunkers to make it challenging and interesting.

Piltdown had just sanded the fairways so we were granted ‘preferred lies’ on the mown stuff; in fact the sand provided a useful clue as to where the ball had landed, puffing up as it did when struck. The greens were a little slow, but were not themselves sanded.

We had four guests in our number, and the results put them front and centre. David Bedwell, of Reigate Hill, showed everyone else how it should be done, and scored 34 points, a total which most of the OWs present considered a very good score on a difficult course. Second prize also went to a guest, this time Suffolk resident Gary Seaman, who scored 31. After that, there was a cluster of members vying for third place (and the Autumn cup, which could only be won by a member). Alan Scovell, Mark Haswell and Nigel Huxtable all carded 30
points, and all scored 14 going out and 16 coming back. The need for too much scrutiny of the countback position was avoided however, because David Hughes, who had considered scrapping his card after a poor start  over the first four holes, recovered (and surprised) himself to such an extent that he scored 11 on the front and a highly commendable 19 on the back, which trumped the others’ 16, and so won him the Cup (pictured with President Pip Burley). Never give up!

All were comforted by Piltdown’s evening curry and so much choice of dessert that some felt compelled to sample more than one.

Our August open meeting was the Hornsey-Walker Cup, looking resplendent having been polished and with the base now firmly fixed to the cup by 2022 winner Andrew Winterbotham. The cup was first presented in 1927 and so it is approaching its centenary; we shall have to plan an appropriate celebration.

The fixture was held at Royal Ashdown Forest GC, and this time we played the Old Course, with players having

the choice of using the yellow or red tees. Whichever choice was made, the key for all players was to keep the ball on the fairway, since the slightest deviation either side meant playing the next shot from the prevalent heather, which was in full and lush condition. So much so that many a ball was lost, and many a 3-minute spell spent foraging in the purple heather for a glimpse of white (or yellow). No-one completed their round in less than 5 hours.

Having finished as runner-up on his last two outings, Nigel Huxtable was due a win, although his victory speech afterwards suggested that he had miscalculated, since he said that he wanted to avoid the consequent cut to his society handicap! Nigel’s winning score of 32 points, very  creditable in the conditions, was also achieved by David Absalom, who lost out on countback by the narrowest of margins, one less than Nigel on the last six holes. Third was David Hughes (29 points) who also finished ahead on countback, this time at the expense of Mike Berners Price (also 29).

We welcomed three new members, Daniel Emkes, Trevor Watkins and Ben Rudall, all making a debut appearance on probably the most difficult course of the summer!

The next (and last) outing of 2023 is at Piltdown GC, in September.

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We played a match against Croham Hurst GC in August. All very enjoyable in lovely weather, but a 4-0 win for the hosts.

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The frenetic activity of June is over and the relative calm of July has arrived. Why there should be such a difference is beyond me!

Anyway, July brought with it our President’s Day meeting at Addington Palace and there was a decent turnout for this one, although still low by historical standards. Our President, Pip Burley, now in his fourth year of office, teed off first alongside Messrs Forbes, Skeen and Champness (all pictured alongside), and another five groups followed behind. All participants seemed to enjoy themselves, on a generally fine day on a fine course, with traditionally fast and true greens, and a varied background of holes, some of which wind their way through narrow gaps in the trees and others of which are in open parkland, nearer the palace itself. A good challenge.

It was fitting that Pip himself should be amongst the prize winners, finishing third on countback from Peter Kelley with 34 points. Second was Nigel Huxtable, a member of Addington Palace, and demonstrating the validity of his handicap with 36 points, 18 on each nine holes. Nigel may have regretted sharing his knowledge of the course with playing partner Mark Chatham (pictured right, with Pip), who pipped him to the President’s prize with 37 points; apparently the lead changed hands only on the 16th hole, where Nigel found a bunker and looked likely to stay there for the duration.

Thanks are due to John Gould, who managed the match for us superbly, but was unable to participate because of injury.

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Over 80 people – OWs, parents, staff and guests – attended either the golf or the dinner, or both, at the society’s charity gala day on behalf of Whitgift for All. In total, £20,000 was raised for the school’s bursary fund, enough to fund one boy for one school year, ample reward for a day when members and guests enjoyed fabulous weather for golf at Croham Hurst and then again, during the early evening when everyone mingled together on the School quadrangle for drinks prior to dinner in Big School.

Croham Hurst was in first-class order as players went out in fourballs to compete for both individual and team prizes as well as for nearest the pin and longest drive. There was some encouragement for participants with Laura Bonar, a member of her County women’s elite team, stationed on the difficult, long par 3 16th, gifting her tee shot for the team to choose before putting out. Always provided the team had contributed towards charity funds first! The prize-giving followed the golf (right, presented by David Creswell, deputy head) with the team prize won by Andy Marshall, Phil Marshall, Ed Parsons and Malcolm McKinlay (88 points, pictured left), who pipped the runners-up, Peter Gale, Jonathan Gale, John Gould and Harry Sellers (87). Second prize in the individual competition was won by guest Tricia Topping (37 points) with best individual, Ed Parsons, taking the Whitgift Golf Charity Cup with a gross 68, scoring 40 stableford points off a handicap of 2.

Many golfers (but not all) then changed into black tie and made their way to the School where they joined Headmaster, Chris Ramsey, and other guests for dinner. Following a welcome by the Headmaster, who explained the objectives of WFA, Sarah Harvey and chef Leszek Karpinski laid on a magnificent three-course meal which was greatly enjoyed. Entertainment was provided by the four -piece jazz group, Kingham Express, comprising four current pupils; Reuben Karas, Lucian Ng, Roony Ng, and Bakari Leon. Not only was their performance enthusiastically received but, later in the evening they were invited by guest Rob Holland to perform at his top West End venue, Brasserie Zedel in Picadilly. Dinner was followed by an auction entertainingly conducted by Simon Beck and Pip Burley, in which the generously donated items were soon snapped up by the assembled company.

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The match against the School, in early May, fell foul of thunder and lightning soon after the matches had got underway, and was soon abandoned with the greens waterlogged. However, it was notable that several quite young Whitgiftians are playing off low handicaps, which bodes well for golf at the school in the coming years, and for OW golf after that.

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Qualifying for the Grafton Morrish took place at Royal Wimbledon. A generally young and able Whitgift team – Nic Gates/Laurie Evans; Oscar Bailey/Harrison Sellers; Owen Richardson/Toby Kemp – competed against 12 other schools in scratch foursomes for the six qualifying places available. Nic Gates reports –

“Royal Wimbledon was in excellent condition, although that did make things a little tricky with lush rough and fast, firm greens. Despite the tough conditions the scoring from the other schools was high which makes our result hard to explain. We had a team of youngsters who had an average handicap of scratch, accompanied by myself as the more experienced member of the team.

Scratch foursomes stableford is an acquired skill, and following the post round discussions I think that the chasing of points led to a few non scoring holes; a few missed greens followed by a chip and 3 putts seemed to damage a few scorecards. A couple of short putts missed and some wayward driving led to a much lower than planned cumulative score. The pairs scored as followed: Gates and Evans 25; Bailey and Sellers 22; Richardson and Kemp 23.

70 points has qualified in the past, but it was 9 short of the required mark on Sunday. Only 3 points per pair (one par and one bogey) away from qualifying, but a poor collection of scores for all.”

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Distinctly better news for Nic Gates and Laurie Evans in the prestigious Alba Trophy, where the pair, representing the society, came third out of 42 pairs at the scratch medal foursomes event, held on a Woking course in great condition and with very fast greens. Nic tells us more –

“A field of some of the best genuine amateur golfers in the south had assembled for a day of foursomes golf, and as the weather improved from bobble hat to short sleeves, the players set off to see how difficult scoring was going to be.  A shotgun start across 4 tees had the field on the course in good time and the competitors soon discovered how challenging the course could play. From the very tips of the black tees, Woking showed what a world class strategic challenge it could present. 

The morning was tough, with few pairs breaking 80, however the lunch was of a standard that made most forget the frustrations of the first 18 holes and vow to better their morning score. Some excellent white burgundy proved to be the catalyst for the afternoon round. An exciting start with a birdie and an eagle in the first four holes led to the best score of the day, a 72, which after a morning 80 left the OWs as leaders in the clubhouse. After a nervous yet delightful wait on the wonderful terrace overlooking the 14th green, the score of 152 was finally beaten by a shot by two other pairs.”

Well done, Nic and Laurie. KCS OB won the event.

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Three matches are scheduled in the month of June, and we may have to reconsider this going forward, as numbers of available players are frequently an issue. This year, the Trinity match was held at Betchworth Park GC, a new venue for this fixture but it proved a good one for Whitgift, who prevailed 3-2 in the Croydon derby, and so reclaimed the Harrods Putter, the trophy for this fixture, after a gap of two years.

Numbers are rarely a problem at Tandridge for the match versus Old Alleynians, provided there are enough Tandridge members in the mix to act as hosts for the day, and so it proved again on a glorious day, on a course that is in first-rate condition and on greens that were lightning-fast. 16-a side is the most either side muster for any of its matches, and indeed Whitgift turned up with 17, due to an oversight by an already tested match captain, who had flown in from South Africa on the morning of the match and had to play with borrowed clubs. Nonetheless Jeremy Stanyard prevailed heroically alongside Ian Chicken in a match that went all the way to the 18th green, and their point proved to be the deciding feature in a narrow 41/2 – 31/2 win for Whitgift. An unusually healthy meal followed the golf, but the arrival of potatoes appeared to save the day for some.

The match against KCS has been cancelled due to a lack of numbers, this time on the KCS side.

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Whitgift’s relationship with the Schools Putting Competition has been a difficult one over the years, with relegation from the competition at fairly frequent intervals, often prompted by difficulties with getting a full team out. However there is now a Plate competition, especially for schools in the two-year absence that relegation entails, and so a useful team of four, led by Chris Jones, took to the putting green at Royal Wimbledon with a degree of optimism, undiluted by a rainstorm brought on by the month’s hot weather, which delayed the event marginally. Only four teams contested the prize, and in the end it came down to the last match of the ‘all play all’ format – Whitgift v Dulwich (again – see above) – in which a win for Whitgift would have resulted in a playoff for first place. But Ian Hunter’s putt on hole 17 stopped in the jaws, whilst Dulwich holed theirs, and so Dulwich won the Plate outright. Chris Jones finished third out of 16 in the individual table.

Our presence at the event does guarantee us a starting place in the main competition next year.

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Only eight players made it to the first tee for the Veterans’ Cup, played at a parched Shirley Park in temperatures approaching 30 degrees. Happily all eight also reached the 18th. One of our number was Robert Hollidge, who was a member at Shirley Park for 52 years before his move down to Canterbury, holding virtually every office at the club at one time or other, and consequently was awarded lifetime use of the golf course when he left. Robert was also a long-time secretary of the OWGS, captain and president, and has won more ‘open’ meetings than any other player. He represented the society in both the Grafton Morrish and Cyril Gray. In recognition of his efforts and successes on behalf of OWGS golf, Robert was presented by President Pip Burley with an ‘outstanding contribution’ award (photo left).

On the course, Robert scored 32 points and was beaten to the main prize by Tony Harris (right), who harvested a commendable 35, and by Nigel Huxtable (33).

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The Cyril Gray is a scratch foursomes competition for those over 50 years of age, contested by the same 32 Hewitt schools each year at Worplesdon (above), near Woking. Whitgift has won the competition twice, in 1974 and 1999. The quest for a third title began against King Edward’s, Birmingham, the only side whom Whitgift had never faced in the main competition. Tony Mason’s side were soon ahead and in truth it was never a close contest, with all three matches being led comfortably from a fairly early stage. Martin Hayes and debutant Mark Haswell overcame their opponents 4&2; Roddy Sage & Alan Scovell won their match 6&5; and Tony Mason & Mark Chatham prevailed 3&2, in a 3-0 win.

The second round opponents were Blundells, who had won the competition the previous year and whom Whitgift had never beaten: they therefore represented stiffer competition. However, Tony had a secret weapon up his sleeve, with Neill Williams, newly over 50 and a +4 golfer, brought into the top pair for the Thursday. Partnering Martin Hayes in the top pair, Neill made a winning start to what will hopefully become a successful experience in the Cyril Gray, and Mason & Chatham also won in the third pair, giving Whitgift a 2-1 win in the morning. Similar success followed for Williams & Hayes in the afternoon’s third round, this time against familiar foes Watson’s, and this time it was the second pair of Haswell & Scovell who gave Whitgift the vital second point, with Mason & Chatham able to claim a half in the unfinished third match.

Word was now spreading that Whitgift had a strong pairing upfront, which gave Tony Mason a tactical dilemma, because a common strategy in such circumstances is for the opposition to ‘sacrifice’ a weaker pairing in the top match, whilst hoping to prevail in the other two matches. Tony also knew what his semi-final opponents, Rossall, did not – that Neill Williams was unavailable for the final day! So was this time for a bluff, or a double bluff?! In the end, he decided to put himself and Mark Chatham out first, and they played some of their best golf of the week. Nonetheless it was not good enough to carry the day, against a Rossall side who have strength in depth and who have reached the final five times in the last nine years (losing each one, as it happens). Tony & Mark succumbed on the 15th, whilst Alan Scovell & Roddy Sage lost 6&5 in the third match, again against a very strong pairing. Hayes & Haswell were 2 down after 13 but able to claim the half since the overall result was already determined.

So, overall a good week, and one that shows the potential for Whitgift to record another win in the near future, with other former Hewitt players joining Neill Williams in the over-50s category.