The IOW team have narrowly missed out on a second win against mainland county level opposition in a close match played at Shanklin and Sandown Golf Club. Hampshire brought a strong Colts team to the Island as they prepare for their 2010 league season.
The morning Foursomes produced some close matches and some great golf not the least of which was Andy Fuller (Cowes) who holed is 2nd shot from about 130 yards at the par 4 13th hole for an eagle. It was however not enough to help him and Paul Spreadbury (Osborne) from being beaten by their Hampshire opponents. The Island did however claim 3 of the 5 morning matches as the Shanklin pair of Chris Reed and George Foreman claimed a 2&1 win; Darren Masterton (Osborne) and Brandon Thompson (Freshwater) won by 1 hole; and then the final pairing of Andy Westhorpe and Tony Williams (both Shanklin) grabbed a significant 4&3 win to give the Island a 1 match lead at Lunch.
The afternoon Singles were harder than the morning matches as the Hampshire team got away to good starts and led early on in almost every match. Hampshire player Mark Sawford holed out from 60 yards for an eagle 3 on the 8th making Matt Barnicoat's task even harder and in the end Sawford took the match 3&2. When the other two matches at the front of the field went Hampshire's way the writing was on the wall for a tough afternoon. But Foreman showed his consistency taking his match by 1 hole and Richard Harrison (Ryde) also won his match 3&2 to help the island cause. Williams was always headed by Hampshire's Ben Ludlam who was well under par when their match finished after 13 holes. By contrast Westhorpe who was playing at the back of the field, led from the turn to eventually win 3&2. The overall match result lay with Fuller who was hanging on in his match and eventually claimed a valuable half. Whilst Reed who was having a real battle with Haydon Reigh both golfers have scratch handicaps and were claiming regular birdies to gain holes but the match stayed close throughout. Reed claimed birdie at 16 to go one up but possibly his only errant shot of the day at the last allowed Reigh back into the match and gave Hampshire the half point they needed to win the match overall.
Final match score IOW 7 Hampshire 8
Photos of the match are at http://picasaweb.google.com/101203776474378853640/IOWVsHampshireColts2010?feat=directlink
