BB&O V Hertfordshire

On Sunday 6^th August the BB&O First Team played their last South East Group League match of the year against a very strong Hertfordshire side. The match took place on the Red Course at Frilford Heath, which was presented in fantastic condition, and the weather was also very pleasant, albeit a little breezy.

In the morning foursomes the BB&O made a good start, being up in 3 of the 4 matches after 7 holes. In the top match, the BB&O Pair of John Gough (Stoke Park) & Olly Huggins (Frilford Heath) picked up from where they left off against Middlesex and were playing some irresistible golf. Having been 1 up through 7 holes, they never gave their opponents (Alex Collman and James Surridge) a chance and went on to win 3&2. In the second match, the established BB&O pairing of Tim Shin (Castle Royle) & George Bell (Harewood Downs) were in no mood to give anything away whatsoever. They powered their way into being 6 up through 7 holes against Luke Colgate & Phil Dormer. A late rally by the Hertfordshire pair was too little too late, and Tim & George went onto win 4&3. In the bottom game Hertfordshire were showing their class and the pairing of Ben Harman & Tony Wilkins were in far too good form for the BB&O pair of Aaron Ashberry (Burford) & Alex Stubbs (Frilford Heath) and pulled a point back for Hertfordshire. That left just one match of the foursomes session on course between the BB&O pairing of Rory Brown (Feldon Valley) & Harrison Arnold (Castle Royle) against the Hertfordshire pair of Jason Mitchell & Matt Smith. Having lost the first hole to a chip in, Rory & Harrison turned their game around to be 2 up after 7. They resisted anything that the Hertfordshire pair could throw at them and went on to win 2&1 – playing the 17^th beautifully in front of all of the players from both sides who were watching on. This meant the BB&O took a 3-1 lead at lunchtime. This rounded off a great year of foursomes sessions in the league matches in 2017 for BB&O, where they had only lost 3 out of the 12 individual foursomes matches during the year.

In the afternoon, BB&O were hoping to buck their recent trend of slow starts in the singles sessions, and they did. Although it was still very tight in the early stages, after 7 holes BB&O were only down in 2 of the 8 matches. In the top game, Tim Shin (BB&O) was having an extremely close game with Luke Colgate. After 7 holes Tim was 1up but was pegged back to All Square after 11. They then proceeded to match each other shot for shot on the way in and halved every hole to finish the game All Square. In the second game between John Gough (BB&O) and Tony Wilkins, things were equally as tight. John was up early on, but following a poor lie on 16, was pegged back to All Square with 2 to play. A few holes back saw the conclusion to the match between George Bell (BB&O) and Alex Collman, where George had played flawless golf to win 5&4. Alex Stubbs (BB&O) soon followed with a point of his own over James Surridge despite an early scare of being 2 down after 4. Unfortunately for BB&O, Aaron Ashberry and Harrison Arnold were not having such good days as the lost their matches to Matt Smith & Ben Harman (although Ben Harman was -6 for his last 8 holes in his match against Harrison!). With a total of 5.5 points already in the bag, BB&O needed some good news from John Gough in the 2^nd match, and he didn’t disappoint. Still All Square playing the last, he ripped his driver over the bunker and within 50yrds of the green, dutifully chipped it to 6ft and rolled in the putt for birdie to win his match 1up and to ensure BB&O victory! Olly Huggins (BB&O) shortly followed him down the last hole in his match but couldn’t find a birdie of his own so halved his match with Jason Mitchell. This left Rory Browne (BB&O) all alone on course, but he wasn’t in the mood for hanging around and won the 15^th and 16^th to win his match 3&2 against Phil Dormer and give BB&O an 8-4 victory.

A great way to end the year, and to ensure BB&O remain undefeated in 2017. All eyes will now be on the match between Essex and Bedfordshire on 3^rd September - where Essex must win, otherwise BB&O will be champions of the Northern Section of the South East Group League for the 2^nd year running and book themselves into the South East Group Final.  George Bell, Alex Stubbs and Rory Browne were presented their County Colours after the match, please see the pictures below.

To view the full result click here

George Bell (Harewood Downs)

Rory Browne (Feldon Valley)

Alex Stubbs (Frilford Heath)

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