Seniors Win Opening League Match
Seniors win opening league match
MGU League: Worcestershire Seniors v Derbyshire Seniors on 29th June 2021
Match Report
The County Seniors team opened up their league season at Bransford GC against Derbyshire. Darron Henn was making his seniors debut and Bryan Swain was a late replacement for Ian Smith in order to complete a strong seniors team to represent the County. Thanks to some excellent preparation work carried out by the course manager Graham Wallace and his team, the course was in magnificent condition and presented the players with a really fine test of golf.
Coffee and bacon rolls were quickly devoured by both teams and the match was soon underway with the morning foursomes. As always, these matches are often decided by one or two key shots and the pressure is always on, especially over nine holes. Four of the six matches were decided on the ninth green and it ended up at 3 v 3 at lunch. Game on.
The afternoon four balls were a different story. The top pairing of Hill and Macpherson played as solidly as ever and secured our first win. They now remain unbeaten in two matches with a 100% winning record - well done lads. Thompson and Green combined well and ran out as strong 4 &2 winners in match two. Marshall and Shurmer found their form and with some blistering golf around the turn they ran up the biggest win of the day at 5&4. Thornhill and Leydon just couldn't hole the putts and some very solid play from the Derbyshire pair of Brooks and Brown saw them home with a 3&1 victory. Desmond and Taylor were involved in quite a dogfight but with some good play between them on the back nine they were able to secure a fine 3&2 win and remain unbeaten on the day. Henn, on his debut and the experienced Swain formed an excellent new partnership to win both their foursomes and betterball matches to also record a 100% winning record on the day. Congratulations to both of them and a special thank you to Bryan Swain for stepping in to play at 48 hrs notice.
Overall, the Worcestershire seniors team won 10 of the 12 points available during the afternoon to secure a very pleasing overall match victory by 13 to 5. The day was capped by by all the players enjoying each other's company as well as being able to watch the England v Germany match on the big screen in the bar - another fine win.
Click here for the match scoresheet
The hospitality shown to everyone and quality of the course at Bransford was first class. This was reiterated by Paul Longden (Derbyshire Captain) in his speech and the Derbyshire players were all full of praise for the course and how much they'd enjoyed their day. We all look forward to the return fixture in Derbyshire next year.
Thank you to all the County seniors for their superb commitment to the side and we now look forward to their next league match against Warwickshire at Harborne GC on Wednesday 7th July.
Bill Thompson
County Seniors Captain
The County Seniors Team v Derbyshire 29th June 2021
LtoR : Dave Marshall (The Worcestershire), Pete Desmond (Moseley), Steve Green (Rose Hill) Shaun Thornhill (Kings Norton), Bill Thompson (Kings Norton), Nigel Taylor (Redditch Pitcheroak), Bryan Swain (Stourbridge), Phil Shurmer (The Worcestershire), Darron Henn (Gaudet Luce), Jim Leydon (Kings Norton), Duncan Macpherson (Worcs G&CC) and Tony Hill (Moseley)