Scratch Team start season on a high

During last weekend’s Royal Wedding celebrations, Goodwood’s scratch team were a force to be reckoned with in the second round of The Oliver’s Trophy, performing with power and accuracy to comprehensively defeat Selsey 11-1 in what was a good spirited match.

On a beautifully hot sunny day, The Downs Course was looking resplendent and provided a fair test for both teams. However, home advantage was probably always going to be the deciding factor.

Highlights from the morning foursomes session included a stunning start by young Joe Sykes, who was making his debut for the scratch team, and was ably supported by Stuart Gillett who chipped in for eagle on the sixth hole on their way to a 6&4 win, which was matched by Nick Tull and David Porter who were 3 under par for fourteen holes.

Debutantes Ben Andrews and Mike Howard played solidly all morning but three visits to fairway bunkers off the tee meant they went down fighting hard on the seventeenth losing 2&1 after a horseshoe lip out to take the match down the final hole.

The final morning point was secured by returning US college golfer Leonardo Ruggieri and Matt Lavington, who were never troubled winning on the 13th green.

Morning Foursomes: Golf At Goodwood 3 – 1 Selsey

The afternoon singles matches were played in perfect conditions and Goodwood made the most of it securing early leads in all but a couple of matches.

Ruggieri & Lavington only required 12 holes to win their respective singles matches with Lavington winning 10 out of 12 holes.

Goodwood’s losing morning pair both made amends to secure points in the afternoon singles, with a highlight from Howard being a seventy-yard pitch shot holed for birdie on the 7th hole after having found another fairway bunker off the tee.

Final mention must go to a very impressive Sykes; once the overall match had been decided both teams followed Sykes’ match down the seventeenth hole. Sykes hit a four iron from 201 yards which never left the flag and settled six feet from the hole. From there he rolled in his birdie putt to win his match and complete a Goodwood clean sweep of all eight-afternoon singles points.

Afternoon Singles: Golf At Goodwood 8 – 0 Selsey

Final Match Score: Golf At Goodwood 11 – 1 Selsey

Thank you to all the caddies and numerous supporters which as always included Eddie Bullock our honorary president.

Next up is a trip back to The Dyke Golf Club, where Goodwood lost their 2017 Oliver’s Trophy Final, on Saturday 2 June for a third-round tie against Dyke’s Scratch Team. All support is welcome, on what is going to be a tough afternoon in East Sussex.