This week we played in the finals of the Grafton Morrish. First up at 8am on Friday was Oundle at Brancaster. We had a very close match but in the end all 3 Cranleigh pairs won the crunch holes down the stretch to get the win.
Richards/Whitty – 2/1
Pickford/Boyle – 1 up
Riddiford/Moore C – 2 up
Round 2 we were up against the mighty Tonbridge (much bragging rights at stake in the Whitty family). At first pair Whitty and Richards won key holes at 15 and 16 to go one up and then got up and down from 150 yards at 17 and from the deep bunger short of 18 to win 1 up. Pickford and Boyle were one up playing the last and a fine chip and putt closed out the win for Cranleigh 2-1.
Saturday morning’s opposition at Hunstanton were the 2017 Hewitt finalists, Ampleforth. Whitty and Richards edged ahead to be one up playing 18. 460 yards in to the wind and a magnificent 3 iron to the heart of the green by Richards clinched the point. Behind Boyle drove the ball magnificently and Pickford held some key putts on the closing holes to again get the winning point.
Saturday afternoon saw us up against George Herriots who had beaten Millfield in extra holes in the morning. They have won the GM 5 times and made 4 other finals so it was no disgrace to go down by 2.5/0.5. Whitty and Richards were well beaten but after being 3 down Pickford and Boyle battled back to be one up playing the last but the opposition made a great 4 to half the match. Meanwhile Ridders and Moore kept battling and a magnificent 3 wood by Ridders in to 15 for an eagle and a superb up and down from a buried lie in the bunker at 16 kept them in the match but eventually losing 2/1.
So some excellent wins against high class opposition. Many GM winners don’t play in the Hewitt and with the qualifying system it’s a higher standard than the Hewitt. First time that we have made the quarter finals since at least 1982.
Captained excellently by Martin Riddiford and with some helpful ball finding by Hansford it was a great few days.
