Dorset County

After positive winter training sessions this was the perfect opportunity to showcase the strength and depth of our current squad. Today’s team was a perfect split between experienced Dorset players of Giles Legg, Harry Mitchell, Brad Cox, Robbie Mabb and Andy Robson alongside the debutants of Aaron Bullock, Harry Collins, Steffen Foley, Tom Lawrence and Justin Morris.

With 5 foursomes pairings set for the morning session it was the responsibility of Brad Cox and Steffen Foley to lead the team out, after Brad split the 1^st fairway with a booming drive they didn’t look back and breezed to a 5 and 3 victory .

The experienced pair of Giles Legg and Harry Mitchell were a little out of sorts but managed to keep themselves in the match until late in the round, unfortunately a couple of missed chances sealed their fate and they were beaten 3 and 2.

In match 3 Robbie Mabb and Tom Lawrence raced out of the blocks and to the turn 4up, they consolidated this advantage and finished off 4 and 3 winners and they were quickly followed in by the 4^th pairing of Andy Robson and Justin Morris with Andy rolling his 40 foot downhill putt to 3 foot for Justin to finish off and win their match 2 and 1.

In the last match Harry Collins and Aaron Bullock played some of the shots of the day with many of their holes being conceded as their approach shots we too close to putt. They in turn cruised to a 4 and 3 victory giving Dorset a 4 – 1 lead over the Army at Lunch.

After 9 holes the foursome’s matches looked like this:-

• Cox and Foley – 2up
• Legg and Mitchell – 2up
• Mabb and Lawrence – 4up
• Robson and Morris – Level
• Bullock and Collins – 3up

10 singles matches followed with Brad again leading the team out but after a late injury for his opponent a halved match was called before they made it to the 9^th hole.

Steffen Foley produced another solid performance to edge out his match 3 and 2 before the overall team scores started to turn in favour of the Army. With 6 out of their next 7 matches all going up the last there was still a good chance for the Army to turn the game around. The following scores show exactly how tight the matches were going well into the back 9:-

• Cox – Halved Match                                        halved
• Foley – 1 up through 13                                 won 3/2
• Collins – 2 up through 14                               won 4/2
• Bullock – Level through 14                           lost 1 down
• Lawrence – 1 down through 14                  lost 1 down
• Morris – Level through 14                            won 2/1
• Robson – 1up through 15                             won 2/1
• Mabb – 1 down through 15                         won 2 up
• Mitchell – Level through 15                         won 2up
• Legg – 2up through 12                                   won 5/3

The team managed to find another gear and in turn they converted 5 of the tighter matches into wins. Dorset’s result in the singles finished with a score of 7.5 to 2.5 with an overall match winning total of 11.5 to 3.5. There were many positives to take from the day and this proves as an excellent warm up before our 1^st County East League match against Hampshire on May 14^th at Liphook.

Please can I thank Wareham Golf Club for their hospitality and giving up the course for our matches. Thanks also must go to our County President John White for his support on the day alongside our County Secretary Ian Hulse.

Tom Leech

Dorset County Captain

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