The last time that Winchester qualified for the Grafton Morrish was 2013; yesterday that wrong was put right.
For those interested (and bad luck to those who are not), the Morrish requires teams to progress through a process of regional qualifiers. 100 attempt to get into the 48 team finals in October. Winchester WERE perennial finalists – and even lost in the final in 2005 to Malvern. However, 5 years ago, qualification was moved from Royal Ashdown Forest to North Hants and since that time, we have fallen at the very first hurdle.
The format of the day is a scratch foursomes stableford; the reality is as ugly as the description. A thankless grind of holing out tricky putts on quick and bumpy Spring greens with a card in your hand, and embarrassment a few hours away. Add in the tricky North Hants course, with the railway line sliding down the finishing stretch and it is a tough day out – not one of the favourite rounds of the year!
Anyway, this year we cracked it… 82 points was enough to see the team qualify in second place on the day behind Millfield who seemed to have their own array of Brooks Keopka lookalikes.
Special mention to Tim Lewis and Ben Twiney who delivered 31 points with the pressure on – playing as the 3rd pair on the day. They knew that the team needed a good haul from the anchor pair and delivered.
Btw – in 2013 we went out in the 1st round to Sutton Valence 3-0. No repeat this year please!
Team for the day:
Richard Sanders & James Cameron – 25 points
George Close-Brooks & Nick Holt – 26 points
Tim Lewis & Ben Twiney – 31 points