OWGS – Captain’s Report 2014
I have thoroughly enjoyed my first year as Captain of OWGS, playing in 8 matches and both the Spring and Autumn Meetings and acting as non-playing Captain at the Halford Hewitt. I sense that OWGS is in good heart and continues to provide its members with opportunities to play competitive but friendly matches at some of the country’s top golf clubs while keeping in touch with fellow Wykehamists. I’m really pleased to see from the records that so many members take part in our fixtures. This report will cover some of the year’s activities.
Website
Having moved the administration of OWGS onto the internet, the website plays a central role – many thanks to Nick Holt and others for the time and skill that they have put in to creating and improving the website. It is important to keep the website up to date so will Match Managers please post detailed results as soon as possible after their matches have been played.
Matches
93 Old Wykehamists played in 15 matches during the year, 27 of whom played in 3 or more matches. Chris Fell played in the most matches (9 including Hockley’s centenary celebrations) and David Bonsall the most individual games (16). Of those who played 5 games or more, Ben Twiney has the best record (75% from 10 games) while both Christian Portz and Jay Varkey won all 4 games that they played.
OWGS won 7, halved 4 and lost 4 matches. Highlights include a comprehensive victory over Royal St. George’s in July and a win against the Old Etonians at Rye in September.
Thank you to all Match Managers for their vital role in running these matches.
Meetings
Spring Meeting
16 members played in the Spring Meeting at New Zealand in May. David Ham & David Parkinson won the Baker Cup in the morning before the school team joined us for lunch. Jamie Joshua (in his final term) and Nyren Scott-Malden won the Chelmsford Cup in the afternoon.
For the past few years, trying to fit in 36 holes of foursomes, lunch and the AGM has proved increasingly difficult and has detracted from the enjoyment of the day. As a result, last year’s AGM was very rushed and held well into the evening with only a handful of attendees. We are therefore going to try this year on Saturday 9th May, again at New Zealand, to hold the AGM mid-morning, followed by an early lunch and 18 holes in the afternoon so that members can get away at a reasonable hour. There will be separate singles and foursomes competitions so that members can choose to play their own ball (or not) as they so wish. I hope that this new format will encourage many more members to attend and, with less pressure on time, provide an opportunity to have a fuller and more relaxed discussion about ways of enhancing OWGS’s future activities to the benefit of all members.
Autumn Meeting
We held an Autumn Meeting at Aldeburgh, the day before the match against the club, and 14 members played. Tom Hawkings won the Captains’ Salver for the best scratch score (74), Jamie Joshua won the Captain’s prize for the best stableford score (35 points on a countback from Andrew Brownrigg and Tom Hawkings) and Phil’s (Tom Hawkings & Michael Symonds) won the team prize.
Special thanks to Tim & Lucy Rowan-Robinson, in Tim’s year as Captain at Aldeburgh, for their generous hospitality before and after dinner which contributed to a poor showing in the match against the club the next day. One of the highlights of the weekend was a ‘sing off’ between Andrew Tusa and Jack Keating after dinner.
Tour
An OWGS team visited Hoylake in November 2013 to play a match against Royal Liverpool Golf Club and commemorate John Behrend on what would have been his 80th birthday. The team of eight included seven out of John’s eight Halford Hewitt partners still playing OWGS golf. Anthony Shone and his team were generous hosts but proved too strong for OWGS on the golf course winning 5.5 – 2.5. Royal Liverpool Golf Club has a rich heritage which it manages extremely well and it was good to see that John is an important part of that heritage.
Tournaments
26 members represented Winchester in 7 tournaments.
Halford Hewitt (April)
Winchester lost 2 – 3 to Watson’s in the 2nd round having beaten Lancing 4 – 1 in the 1st round. Merchiston beat Bradfield in the final.
While disappointing to lose a very tight match against one of the leading teams in the tournament, this was an encouraging effort. We have a strong team at the moment and should be able to improve on this performance and start to reach the later stages of the tournament regularly. Winchester won the Halford Hewitt in 1948 and in recent years our best performance was to reach the quarter finals in 1999.
Team
- Claudio Consul & Dino Varkey (2/2)
- Tom Hawkings & Nick Holt (0/2)
- David Bonsall & Ben Twiney (1/2)
- Richard Sanders & Jay Varkey (2/2)
- Chris Fell & Tim Rowan-Robinson (1/2)
Winchester has drawn Glenalmond in the 1st round of the 2015 tournament – our starting time is 2:45 p.m. at Deal on Thursday 9th April and supporters will be welcome. The team will be selected after the final trial at Royal St. George’s in March.
The trial in 2014 took the form of a match between Under 40s and Over 40s. The older team won the match comfortably and Mark Coulman & Charlie Hewetson won the Captains’ Coasters for the best performance of the day.
Grafton Morrish (qualifying round – May)
Winchester’s score of 64 stableford points in the regional qualifying tournament at North Hants GC was well behind the score of 72 that was required to qualify for the finals. Seaford won the regional qualifying tournament (87 points) and Sherborne beat Clifton in the final of the tournament at Brancaster and Hunstanton in the autumn.
Team
- Tom Hawkings & Freddy Manduca (26)
- Christian Portz & Ben Twiney (21)
- Chris Fell & Guy Winkworth (17)
Alba Trophy (June)
Tom Hawkings & Nick Holt represented Winchester in the Alba Trophy at Woking – their good score of 151 (74, 77) was five shots behind Stowe’s winning score of 146.
Senior Bernard Darwin (65 and over – June)
Winchester lost 2 – 1 to Eton in the 2nd round having beaten Uppingham 2 – 1 in the 1st round. Tonbridge beat Eton in the final.
Team
- Darryl McArthur & Colin Scott-Malden
- Bruce Dinwiddy & Bill Maclagan
- Andrew Brownrigg & Rodney Hall
Veteran Bernard Darwin (75 and over – June)
Winchester’s top score (25 stableford points) was 8 points behind Wellington’s winning score (33)
Team
- John Arthur & Michael Wauchope (25)
- John Roskill & Alastair Stobart (23)
Bernard Darwin (55 and over – July)
Winchester lost 0 – 3 to Marlborough in the 1st round. Repton beat Charterhouse in the final.
Team
- Tim Rowan-Robinson & James Tindley
- Colin & Nyren Scott-Malden
- Andrew Brownrigg & Bill Maclagan
All of the Bernard Darwin tournaments are played at Woking.
Dick Watson (October)
Winchester played in a new schools tournament, The Dick Watson Trophy at Aldeburgh. Playing stableford foursomes off handicap, the team scored 119 stableford points in the 36 holes qualifying event and beat Ampleforth in the 11th/12th place play off. Woodbridge School (132) beat Sherborne (132) in the final.
Team – Charles Dinwiddy, Bill Maclagan, Tim Rowan-Robinson & James Tindley
President’s Putter
Having reached the semi-finals in 2009 and 2013 and the final in 2014, Claudio Consul went one better in January beating Ben Keogh in the final. He is only the second Wykehamist to win the tournament, Gerald Micklem having won the event for members of the Oxford & Cambridge Golfing Society in 1953.
Many congratulations to Claudio on this fine victory which follows his unprecedented achievement of winning 8 matches out of 8 in his four Varsity matches (2008 – 11).
School
Golf in the school is in good order and the relationship between the school and OWGS is strong, thanks in part to Rob Moore’s role as don in charge and also to the Golf Bursary Fund, set up initially by the Sanders family. Will Townsend, a very promising young golfer who started at Winchester in September, is the latest to benefit and has settled in well.
Hockley centenary
OWGS played a leading role in Hockley’s centenary celebrations – many thanks to Nyren Scott-Malden for managing our involvement. Please see Chris Fell’s excellent report on the website for an insight into the day’s activities.
With best wishes to all members for a happy and successful golfing year – I’m looking forward to playing in several matches this year and am hoping that we can do better in the various tournaments. We should draw inspiration from Claudio’s victory at Rye and I hope that a number of members will support the team at the Halford Hewitt in April.
David Wybar
January 2015