Eastern League Match v Hertfordshire 15th May 2013 at Welwyn Garden City Golf club.
Match 1 – Richard Howlett and Andy Rivers came up against the opposing captain and his partner, both of whom were called Dave. Despite giving 11 and 13 shots to both opponents Andy and Rich came through as convincing 5&3 winners to get the team off to the best possible start. It wasn’t all plain sailing, as they found themselves 2 down through two and a little bit shell shocked. This was soon rectified with some steady golf. Rich made a string of Pars through the turn capped with a fantastic Eagle on 10 from Andy. This put the lads 3 up going down 11 and the screw started to tighten.
Another string of steady pars then lead to the inevitable handshake on the 14th green. Although patchy in places, the cream came to the top in the end.
Match 2- Matt Atkins and Richard Ashby were a last minute pairing put together by our Illustrious captain Richard Howlett. On paper it looked an inspired decision. This was soon dashed as they were put out second to take on the Hertfordshire pair which included the ex-Bedfordshire officer and long time advisory Pete ward. It really didn’t start well, losing the first two holes. Losing was not an option especially to Pete and dogged determination brought the score back to all square by the 10th. Matt and Richard dovetailed well and after some excellent scrambling by Richard on the 15th they took a one hole lead. Three solid holes later the match was won 2 up.
With the team in front winning and the team behind winning this was a very satisfactory outcome.
Match 3- This was a very satisfying match where both Paul Simpson (Bart) and Pete Fitzgibbon (Fitzy) dovetailed well to secure a 3 & 2 victory against two well respected members of the Herts team. It was good to see that Bart had put behind him the demons of the Leighton Buzzard match and played an equal part in this fine performance. Both Bart & Fitzy went on to finish the 18 holes 4 holes up in total.
Match 4- Harmit Bahra and Nick Leech were once again paired together after their strong partnership from 2012 for what Captain Richard Howlett felt would be a banker point if required. However, this did not prove to be the case. Despite parring the first 2 holes Harmit and Nick were 2 down giving away shots. This got worse on the 4th after an uncharacteristic 3 putt form Nick. After a couple of half holes they were four down after the 7th hole. At the 10th they did reduce the deficit to 2 with a par from Nick and Harmit on the 9th and by Harmit on the 10th. With conceding further shots they were again 4 down after 16th and the match was lost 4 and 2.
Match result Bedfordshire Police 3 Hertfordshire Police 1.