Dorset County

The last match of the season saw Dorset travel to Worthing, a pretty Downland course overlooking the sea. Dorset gave two players their South East League debuts, Kevin Robinson from Yeovil and Robbie Mabb from Weymouth.

Things seemed to be going Dorset’s way in the morning foursomes after plenty of good golf, but on the 18^th hole Sussex came charging back. Tom Peacock and Harry Shaw were one down playing the last and made a great birdie to give themselves a good chance of a half. The Sussex pair then proceeded to follow them in for a birdie of their own to win one up. Our second pair of Matt Hector and Robbie Mabb then came down the last one up. Sussex again birdied to half that game. Dorset’s third pairing of Giles Legg and Jon Welch also played the last one up, with Sussex had driven badly into the right hand rough. Unfortunately this did not stop them from playing a miracle six iron to four feet for yet another birdie on the eighteenth. Game halved. The back pair of Andy Windsor and Kevin Robinson lost 2 and 1 to give Sussex a 3 – 1 lead.

The afternoon singles got underway in beautiful sunshine, but around the turn the weather also turned drenching us with freezing rain. This affected the quality of golf with holes being given away cheaply from both sides. Strong winds then blew the rain away giving us some very competitive golf over the closing holes. Matt Hector, in what is becoming his customary berth at number one, led us out well with a fine 2&1 win. Tom Peacock battled well but succumbed 2&1. It then became very close, with Harry Shaw and Giles Legg all square with three to play, Jon Welch one up with three to go, Andy Windsor well up in his final match for the County before turning professional and Kevin Robinson a couple up as well. Andy Windsor was the first result to come, a fine 7&5 victory, but that was soon levelled out by Robbie Mabb losing 6&5. Then came the turning points of what looked at least a halved match for Dorset. Harry Shaw pulled his tee shot on seventeen out of bounds to lose the hole and eventually his match one down. Jon Welch hit his third shot to the par five sixteenth through the green to make an untimely bogey which led to him also losing one down. This gave Sussex their seventh point and the match. Giles Legg then halved the last for a one up victory with the match already over. Final result 7 – 5 to Sussex.

This was a battling performance from Dorset which will give us confidence going into next season. Our County Coach, Martyn Thompson has highlighted a few points for the team to work on over the winter which will hopefully turn next years halved matches into wins, and one down losses into halves or even victories. I believe we are close to some really good performances next year.

Back to previous results