Simon Byford’s golf column: Thetford Golf Club duo victorious in Carrick Cup, plus action from The Suffolk and Bury St Edmunds Golf Clubs
Thetford Golf Club Ladies landed a major success with victory in the final of the Carrick Cup.
The Carrick is an inter-club scratch foursomes knockout, consisting of a team of just two players. The matches are played over 18 holes and the final is contested on a neutral venue. Sheringham Golf Club hosted the event, a glorious cliff-top course with Harrods of London (yes, that Harrods) responsible for constructing much of the fabulous clubhouse.
Representing Thetford were Kath Malvern & Sue Saunders, playing a top pair from Ryston Park. There were many spectators supporting both sides – scratch foursomes is, after all, one of the most exciting formats to watch.
The Thetford pair were quick out of the blocks, racing to a 4-up lead. However, such a final was never going to be a one-sided affair and the Ryston pair duly pegged the Thetford duo back, winning two holes to leave Thetford with a narrow 2-up margin.
In the middle of the round, holes were halved and exchanged before Malvern & Saunders closed out the match on the 15th to win five and three, and claim the title.
This was an outstanding victory for the Thetford team who had beaten Sprowston, Cromer and Barnham Broom in previous rounds. It also reflects the growing strength of the Ladies section, thanks to the great club environment and the challenging course at Thetford that helps the members be competitive elsewhere.
Suffolk Boys
Regular readers will know that we have been following the Suffolk Under-14s boys’ team as they qualified for the South East Region finals for the first time in many years.
This was held at West Essex, where the boys were up against Kent and BB&O (Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxon). Playing triangular matchplay is always tough, as the format means that you are simultaneously playing two singles matches. This is always tough if you win/lose one match early and then have to keep plugging away in the second.
The West Essex course was in fabulous condition for the event, and was well supported by every team. Unfortunately, Suffolk found it tough with only William Cobbald picking up points, however he did win both of his matches. In the end, Kent were the victors, wining 9-1 against Suffolk and 6½-3½ versus BB&O.
Congratulations to the boys for qualifying and what a great experience for them to compare themselves against the best juniors in the area.
The Suffolk GC
The Suffolk members held a Midweek Stableford. Graham Chapman had the round of the day to come in with 32 points. George Pedro was second with 31 and James Laflin third on 30.
There is always time for a Seniors Stableford, and this week is no different. Alan Horne burrowed his way to the top of the leaderboard with a superb 38 points. Kieron Watson scored 37 for second place and on 36 points in third was Andrew Rudd.
Bury St Edmunds GC
Bury St Edmunds junior Jasmine Points had a fantastic showing at the East Region 36-hole Championship. The event, held at Stoke-By-Nayland Golf Club was 36 holes in one day – a gruelling format.
Jasmine scored 79 in the morning but stayed consistent, returning a 75 in the afternoon to finish fourth overall. Playing against much more experienced players will stand Jasmine in good stead as the 17-year-old steps up to bigger tournaments next season.
Friday 13 saw both the men’s and ladies’ medal competitions held. Despite being unlucky for some, Trevor Titcombe proved there was little to the superstition scoring a two-under-par gross 70, nett 69 to win by just one shot. Kevin Froud was second with nett 70 and Lee Russell third on nett 71.
In the ladies’ event, Bianca Theeruth scored a nett 68 to win by a massive nine shots. Three players scored nett 77, so The Count was required to separate them. Second place went to Louise Crouch, third to Amanda Watson and Amy Wyer took fourth.
There was also a 9-hole course Mixed Stableford, which was won by Peter Thomas on 17 points, Steven Smith was second with 16 and Yvone Horne third with 15.
Last but by no means least there was a Mixed Stableford held. It was delight to Caroline Sumpter, who broke 90 for the very first time, recording a gross 89 for 46 points – a large handicap cut and top spot.
David Smith returned a fantastic 40 points for second place and Heather Chandler came in third with 38 points.
We finish this week with a little ‘pro tip’. Try to always mark your ball on the green with a marker that has two distinct sides to it. For example, a coin is great for this. Get into the habit of always marking the ball heads up. Then, if you are asked to move your marker away from someone else’s line, simply mark it tails up. When you get back to your ball, you will hopefully see that the coin is tails up, which will help jog your memory to move it back before proceeding. This will save you the embarrassment of penalty shots, or loss of hole in matchplay.
As ever, I hope you have a great golfing week.
