Results: Captain Vs Vice-Captain
On the morning of Saturday 9th March, we raised the curtain on the season with the start of our “Summer Schedule” of events.
It may not be Spring yet, in fact it may have felt like the middle of winter at times but 42 members battled with numb hands as they sought to bring their A game, fighting with honour for the Captain or his understudy.
There was some scintillating golf showed by some of the competitors, although many reported a great deal of rustiness, which is no surprise based upon the amount of golf that most have managed over the last 3 months.
The first match out, saw Colin Campbell (C) take the points with a 3 & 1 victory over Bill Sexton (VC)
Captain 1 - 0 Vice Captain
The second match out saw the scores even up as new member Jon Cooper carried me for most of the round against the team of Captain Frank Johnson and his able assistant Dr Jonny Dickson. The scores were very close in the match. Jon graciously allowed me to help out on the last hole with a put to win the match by one.
Captain 1 - 1 Vice Captain
With the scores now tied it was over to the team of Alistair Shand (C) and Richard Bateman (C) to try to put the captain back in front. The lead changed many times, however the team of Eric Lambert (VC) and Mark Higham (VC), would put the VC team in the lead with a 2 & 1 win.
Captain 1 - 2 Vice Captain
Tariq Ali (C) and Kevin Dickson (C) vs the formidable team of David Logie (VC) and Scott Williamson (VC). Yet another close affair here, with the match going all the way to the 18th for the second time today. However the captains team would pip our club champion and his partner.
Captain 2 - 2 Vice Captain
Match 5 would see our recently appointed Match Secretary, Iain Aitchison (C) and Ken Swa (VC) up against past Captain Mike Collier (VC) and Jim McLaughlin (VC). The match would be the only one to end in a tie. Points shared…
Captain 2.5 - 2.5 Vice Captain
The best 4 ball of the day would be seen in the 6th match as Al Cantlay (C) and Thomas McCulloch (C) played some blinding golf but still couldn’t match the golf of Tony Moran (VC) and Ryan Longmuir (VC) who would bring home the points for the VC with a 4 & 3 victory.
Captain 2.5 - 3.5 Vice Captain
With 6 of the matched played and only 5 left to go things were looking good for the author of this match report…
I started to let a little bit of confidence creep in and, in my opinion, our Captain started to look nervous.
HOWEVER….the annihilation was about to start!
First to inflict the damage was the team of Douglas Hamilton (C) and David Mitchell (C), who had some issues with using the app and weren’t 100% confident on the result against David Frame (VC) and Sandy Grant (VC) - some counting in the clubhouse confirmed that the Captains men had done enough and finished 2 Up.
Captain 3.5 - 3.5 Vice Captain
Match 8 saw our Club Secretary, Keith Stirling (C) and David Watt O.B.E. (C) take on 2023 serial winner Alan Black (VC) and recent past captain Mike Page (VC). David and Keith were obviously buoyed by the momentum David Watt’s recent hole-in-one and the match ended with a 3 & 2 victory for the captains team.
Captain 4.5 - 3.5 Vice Captain
The 9th match had Golf Secretary, Ken Marshall (C) and newly returning member Allister Wallace (C) come up against another formidable team of David Devine (VC) and David McColgan (VC). It was obviously written in the stars by this point as the Captains team would secure the victory after playing the 14th hole.
The 3rd match in a row for the Captain!
Captain 5.5 - 3.5 Vice Captain
The penultimate match was a close affair and a win here would have given the VC some hope of an overall tie had the last match had a positive result.
In form Kevin Beattie (VC) and Mike Jordan (VC) would miss out on the last hole as the Neil “The Natural “ Lock (C) and his teammate Christian Stewart (C) would come home on the 18th to finish 1 Up taking the captain to an unassailable lead.
Captain 6.5 - 3.5 Vice Captain
In the final match Adam Lovelock (C) and Jonathan Fletcher (C) would come up against Crawford Gray (VC) and James Brennan (VC). To spare the blushes of the losing team, on the final score I’ll stop short by saying Adam and Jonathan were the top dogs here.
Final Score:
Captain 7.5 - 3.5 Vice Captain
Congratulations to all the winners and our captain, hope you all enjoy the rest of the season.
Daley
PS: In the team contest the spoils went to the Team of Alastair Cantlay, Thomas McCulloch, Tony Moran and Ryan Longmuir with a very impressive Best Ball of 56. They each win a bottle of wine courtesy of Frank and Daley.