Channel League win for Cornwall
Monday 7th July 2014
Channel League Cornwall v Glamorgan Sunday 7th July 2014 Tehidy Park GC
On a day when Cornish golf was very much in the headlines with St Mellion’s Sammie Giles defeating Truro’s Sarah-Jane Boyd in the final of the English Women’s Mid Amateur Championship at Bath, the Duchy’s men returned an excellent 11.5 - 3.5 win over Glamorgan at Tehidy Park GC and in so doing maintained the momentum gained in South West Week where they qualified for September’s English County Finals. The win over Glamorgan also maintains the county’s challenge to retain the Channel League title they claimed last year.
On a beautiful sunny day at Tehidy with just two short lived showers the team had lead at lunch by the much narrower margin of 3 - 2 after the morning foursomes. When Cornwall won the first of the three foursomes a convincing lunchtime lead looked on the cards but Glamorgan were pleased to narrow that gap to just one point as they took the last two games.
Leading Cornwall out in the morning were County Champion Matt Richards and Tom Fox and they duly delivered a 2&1 win over Luke Thomas and Rhys Jones. Harry Hall was next up with debutant Jack Mewton (Truro, pictured above) who had been called up as a last minute replacement for the unwell Rob MacGregor. The previous day Mewton had scored an excellent 69 in an Am-Am at Tehidy and made himself an obvious choice for County Captain Richard Simmons. The selection of 24 year old Mewton proved justified as he and Hall claimed a 3&2 win over Mark Baird and Alistair Jones. The morning’s third point for Cornwall came from the dependable duo of Josh Greenaway and Richard Jasper who beat by 3&2 the Welsh pairing of Glamorgan Captain Ian Flower and Brent O’Neill.
Richard Jasper and Josh Greenaway discuss their options at the 5th.
The two morning defeats for Cornwall came for the Perranporth pairing of Conor Wilson and Chris Fleming who went down by the odd hole and for long serving county stalwart Ian Veale playing with Adam Curtis (4&2).
The first 3 afternoon singles matches all went the way of Cornwall although as is often the case the scores do not necessarily reflect the close nature of the games.
Tom Fox defeated Luke Thomas 2&1 having been behind early in his match. However he won 3 holes on the bounce to get to 2 up through 5 holes. Both he and Thomas birdied the 6th before a double bogey at the par 3 7th reduced his lead to 1. When he birdied the par 5 10th he was 2 up again. By the 15th though Fox’s lead had gone and the match was all square. Again though Fox got his nose in front with a win on 15 and he did not relinquish the lead as he moved to a 2&1 win.
The next win for Cornwall came from Richards who defeated Kieron Harman. Richards was 2 up through 14 and duly closed his match out on the 16th with a 3&2 win. Harry Hall had to dig deep in order to gain his singles win over Welsh U18 international Rhys Jones. Again this was a close match with just the odd hole lead for Hall for the large part. In holing lengthy putts (75’ on the 12th and 30’ on 15) he kept the advantage but a short putt miss on 17 for bogey after finding the greenside bunker meant he went to the 18th tee all square. However he delivered another point for the Duchy with a birdie at the last to put the Cornish team well in the driving seat.
Mewton had been ahead early in his match against Flower but found himself 1 down through 15. However he claimed the 16th when his opponent three putted. He flew the 17th green and failed to make his par to be 1 down again. At the 18th Mewton delivered a long and accurate drive which covered the uphill 327 yards leaving him beyond the pin and on the green fringe. A brave two putt secured birdie and a half point. Curtis who has been experiencing an excellent season was on this occasion the only singles loser for Cornwall as he went down 3&2 to Alistair Jones. The defeat forced the watching spectators a momentary doubt which was quickly dispelled by a further Cornish win through Jasper (4&3 against Baird). When Wilson, who was 1 up through 15 made a birdie on the par 4 16th against O’Neill and then followed it up with an excellent tee shot at the long par 3 17th he closed out his match 3&1 to ensure a Cornish victory. Further wins followed from Fleming (3&2 against O’Carroll), Greenaway (2&1 against McCarthy) and Veale (2&1 against Llewelyn) to leave the Duchy with a convincing winning margin.
County Captain Richard Simmons was delighted by the team’s performance. He said ‘I am a very proud man again today. Bringing a Channel League match to my home club during my captaincy was a lovely feeling. The scoreline suggests a rout but in reality the matches were much closer than the final result indicates. As a bystander it certainly appeared that way. We are in a rich vein of form at the moment and long may that continue’.
On what was a beautiful day a sudden heavy downpour made Matt Richards (below) grateful he had a large towel with him.