Gloucestershire v Somerset Match Report
Gloucestershire remain on course to win the channel league with a comprehensive 11- 4 win against league leaders Somerset at Clevedon Golf Club. In the foursomes the inspirational pairing of Mat Stanford & Andy Rudge came through a close encounter against Max Britton & Sam Day to win 2/1. The Second match produced a fantastic comeback from Nick Day & Rich Carter who were 3 down with 3 to play against south west champion Phil White & Matt Kippen. Day & Carter produced some fantastic golf with birdies on the last 3 holes to gain an important half. In the 3rd match Dave Wood & Nick Scholey were always in control of their game running out 3/2 winners over Laurie Canter & Charlie Cousins. Match 4 saw Paul Garland and debutant Mark Pitcher (Stinchcombe Hill) play out a close game and gain a half point. In the final foursomes game Neil Dean was making a welcome return to the 1st team playing alongside Andy Hale, once again it was a very close game and the honors were even with a halved match. With a lead of 3.5 to 1.5 Gloucestershire were in a good position going into the afternoon singles.
Gloucestershire needed 4.5 points for victory so it was vital to get of to a good start. Early on in the singles Somerset were fighting back and the match was looking a lot closer. Going into the back nine, Gloucestershire started to play some great golf. Match 1 was a great game with Mat Stanford going head to head against the very talented Phil White. This produced some great golf from the players, both had chances to win on the last but a half was a fair and a good result. Match 2 went to Somerset’s Mat Kippen gaining his first ever victory over Nick Day 3/2. Match 3 saw Andy Rudge play flawless golf going 5 under par to beat Max Britton 6/5. Matches 4 & 5 also proved vital for Gloucestershire with Dave Wood & Nick Scholey both playing excellent golf and winning their matches 2/1. With only 1 point needed Gloucestershire looked home and dry but it was Somerset who were looking the stronger in the final games. With Somerset taking a point in match 8 there was still 4 matches on the golf course and all were looking very close. It was a great finish for Mark Pitcher on his debut for the 1st team. Going into the back 9 he was 2 down, but played great golf and won the next 5 holes to gain that all important win and secure the victory for Gloucestershire. The other matches followed suit with Rich Carter , Neil Dean & Andy Hale all fighting back in their games to gain great wins and secure a 11-4 victory.
County Captain Nigel Thompson was quick to pay tribute to his team saying “I can easily say that this is the best squad of players I have ever been involved with! They were fantastic! They play for each other, there is great support between them and they have that fire in their bellies which gives them belief to win every game they play in.” Thompson also paid tribute to debutant Mark Pitcher saying “Mark played fantastic all day! The way he fitted into the side it looked like he’d been there for a long time. He will have a great future in 1st team golf.”
The next game is against Glamorgan at Chipping Sodbury on Sunday 30th August.
“We have to take one match at a time and after this great result against Somerset we will be 100% focused against Glamorgan we don’t take any teams lightly! So we will treat this game as a cup final now that we have the chance of winning the Channel League.”
|
