(L to R: Joe Cruse , Jack Mewton and Rob MacGregor pictured at Tehidy Park GC on Saturday)

In this annual friendly season opening encounter on Saturday at Tehidy Park GC the teams were initially greeted by damp overcast conditions but before long the day broke into blue skies and sunshine, yes……sunshine!

Cornwall were led out by the pairing of Joe Cruse and Matt Richards and after playing the first 11 holes in four under par they commanded a three-hole lead. Cue the comeback of County colleague Tom Fox (China Fleet), who was making his Royal Navy debut and partner Adam Taylor (Perranporth) who eventually secured a two-hole win with a birdie on the 18th hole.
Rob MacGregor and Jack Mewton lined up against Alex Kippen (Yelverton) and Alex Hinds (Tehidy Park), with the Cornwall pairing showing great form to seal a win on the 17th hole, whilst being four under par at the time.

In match three Aaron Stephens and Ryan Curtis were to line up against Tom Yates (Darwen) and Chats Harris (Mullion) but with the clock ticking ever closer to the tee-off time Curtis was nowhere to be seen meaning the County Captain, Ian Veale in his first game in charge was forced to step into the void! Veale could maybe be forgiven for a performance in which he never got into his stride, with the Royal Navy pair securing the point on the 15th hole.

Cornwall stalwart Josh Greenaway was paired with the youth of Simon Hobbs and a solid foursomes performance saw them restore parity in the match with a 3&2 victory over Sam Howard (Southwick Park) and Royal Navy Captain, Lee McCathie (Turnhouse).

With the fifth and final foursome entering the 18th hole with the game at all square it looked like the teams would take lunch with two and a half points apiece, but when Mark Grootz, making his Cornwall debut wedged the tee shot of club and county team mate Steve Davies to within six feet of the flag the pressure transferred to their opponents to produce the same. From the tee shot of Al Woodward (Mullion) partner, Tony Hills (Belton Woods) caught his approach ever so slightly heavy and found a green side bunker. Woodward escaped the bunker to within 15 feet of the pin but when Hills narrowly failed to hole the putt the point belonged to the Cornwall pairing as Davies nudged his putt to the hole side (got two, take two!)

Veale and his vastly experienced Vice-Captain, Charlie Phillips gathered in the Ops room as they put together their plan of attack for the afternoon singles series and without hesitation they decided to launch Cruse in the top match. He was in no mood to hang around as he quickly built a five-hole lead through the opening nine holes. Three holes later and he was signing off on a faultless 7&6 victory over Kippen.

Further victories were secured from the front line as first Richards repeated his victory over Fox at the same venue which saw him go on to become the 2014 County Champion, this time by a score of 6&5 and then MacGregor accounting for Hinds by a 6&4 score line, in the process being three under par.

Of the next seven singles, five matches would go to the 17th hole and one to the 18th where Curtis made amends for his morning ‘awol’ with a closing birdie to win 1 up. With the home County taking the lions share of these games the overall match score would favour Cornwall by 12 games to 3.

Matchsheet