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Date for 2008 13th, 14th and 15th May Guadet Luce Golf ClubOrganiser Mike LotenThe Primary Club Match Play Tournament
Appleyard on Fire.
Report by Mike Loten Imagine the scene, 7.30 pm Monday 14th May 2007, Gaudet Luce Golf Club, the top brass of the Club had turned out for this special occasion. The President, The Chairman, The Secretary, Mr Captain, all the way from Scotland and Lady Captain. The special occasion was to enable them to officiate with the draw for The Primary Club English Blind Golf Matchplay Championship. Unfortunately the numbers of E.B.G.A players who had entered for this competition was low, only nineteen names, but the anticipation and the high expectation grew as the time for the draw drew nigh.Last years winner, Mr Andy Sellars, let it be known that the person he did not want to meet in the early rounds was Bryan Richards. Bryan has just won the Chairman's Cup with a staggering 49 Stableford points. Sods Law, first pairings out of the hat was Mr B Richards v Mr A Sellars. That set the tone for the rest of the evening. The preliminary round continued to send shock waves through the room. Next out the hat Mr D Sheridan v Mr J Cookson; two more big guns head to head, and the final pair continued to heighten the excitement, Mr Appleyard v Mr Tomlinson. If that wasn't enough the draw continued to give us the players in the first round; Sandy Burne v Derek Field, Mr Elrick v Mrs Keyes (Irma Keyes is one of our new members and it was lovely to see her, with her guide and husband Harry). Mr Ritchie, our past Chairman was drawn against Mr Roy McKnight. (It was good to see Geoff Morris, Barry's guide and Roy with his old guide Bill Chamberlain back on the scene). M Loten v Mr "Five Live" Tony Sherman, Secretary Mr Baxter was drawn against Mr Jim "Taggart" O'Brien, and Simon Cookson our lowest handicapper (6) took on Mr P Hodgkinson. In order to complete the draw for the first round we needed the names of the winners from the preliminary round. Mr B Richards beat Mr A Sellars 3 and 2, and Mr D Sheridan beat Mr J Cookson 3 and 1, Paul Appleyard beat Mr Ron Tomlinson 5 and 4, so this enabled us to complete the draw for the first round. D Sheridan v B Richards and P Appleyard v John Madsen, John received a bye into the first round. So at the end of the first day we had the names of players drawn in the quarter finals, and those who would be playing in The Plate. The second day started at 9am with the first of the quarter finalists teeing off, P Appleyard v D Sheridan, Paul winning that tussle 3 and 1. Second pair went out at 9.10am, M Elrick v S Burne, Malcolm proceeded to the semi-finals by beating Sandy 1 up; a close and hard fought game. Mr Ritchie and Mr Loten set off at 9.20am. I felt after nine holes that I was still in bed, 3 down and 9 to play. After more rain showers and a lot of banter, especially from Geoff we were all square with just the 18th to play. My honour, lots of hand-shaking and good wishes, I teed up the ball and promptly drove it left out of bounds giving Barry a win, 1 up. A cracking game, which I enjoyed immensely, not only did I have to give Barry 17 shots it felt as though there was an age gap of about the same number of years. The semi-final was beginning to take shape; Paul would play Malcolm and Barry would play either Simon or Neil. Simon came out on top, winning by 6 and 4. The semi-finalists could now take a rest until the afternoon. The Plate teed off just after 10am with 11 players taking part. The outright winner, with 40 Stableford points was Mr Jay Cookson with his guide Ben Campbell (Ben is another fairly new member to the guiding team and if he can control Jay we may see more of him in the future). With the beaten quarter finalists and some of the early finishers in The Plate, the semi-finalists had a good following in the afternoon. Paul Appleyard was on fire with his new guide Dawn-Lisa Appleyard (his sister and this was the first time she ever guided anyone, let alone her brother) overpowered Malcolm Elrick with his guide Lesley Harrison (these two are to be married shortly and in all probability had other things on their mind) 3 and 2. Simon beat Barry 3 and 1 to give him another chance to win The Matchplay. He did tell me how many times he has been in the final of this competition but I have forgotten. From Barry's point of view I think the game in the morning took too much out of the poor old chap (only joking Baz). So to the final show down, Mr P Appleyard v Mr Simon Cookson. At this point I must apologise to Mr Terry Hartley, who not only helped me with the organisation of the tournament but also guided Simon throughout the championship. A fantastic commitment to E.B.G.A, would you not agree? Paul finally beat Simon 5 and 4. Tears of joy from Dawn-Lisa, I'm told she could not drive the buggy back to the clubhouse, and as for Simon I am going to change an old saying just a little bit. "Always the bestman but never the bride-groom". When all the golf is finished and the results are posted on the board you have just a second to stand back and contemplate the efforts of many people in the background who make such a tournament as The Matchplay a success year after year. Our sincere thanks go to the The Primary Club, who have supported us financially over the past 15 years or more. When you are looking to put your name in for next years Matchplay, please remember Gaudet Luce Golf Club, who again have supported us for a good number of years, we seem to think for a minimum of 8, hosting several of our tournaments within the year. Their members must be the most supporting and tolerant members in the country. The presentation took place in the clubhouse at Gaudet Luce and we were once again fortunate enough to have Mr Rick Coleman and his wife Ann attending the presentation. Rick is The Primary Club West Midland Area representative and before the presentation entertained us with some very witty ditty's. He would certainly be one to remember when looking for an after dinner speaker. To formally give you the results of The Matchplay and The Plate I just repeat that Mr Jay Cookson won The Plate, with 40 Stableford points. Mr Ben Campbell guided him. The runner up of the Primary Club Match Play was Simon Cookson guided by Terry Hartley. The winner was Mr Paul Appleyard with his guide Dawn-Lisa, a truly family occasion. May I in conclusion thank all of the players and guides who participated in this year’s Matchplay and I would hope that we could have greater numbers participating in the 2008 tournament. Already plans are afoot to establish a venue and I look forward to seeing many more of you in the same fixture next year.
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