Sunday 2nd June 2019 - Peterborough Milton
Team: Tiger Adams (Wellingborough), Jack Brown (Kingsthorpe), Tom Burgh (Peterborough Milton), Ryan Genner (Overstone), Jay Noye (Peterborough Milton), Taylor Sargeant (Kingsthorpe), Chris Savage (Peterborough Milton) and Ian Wicks (Peterborough Milton)
Officials: Chris White - Captain (Peterborough Milton) and Gary Hardy - Team Manager (Northampton)
Another lovely day for a county match and our first game of our 2-year stint at Peterborough Milton golf club. I first played golf at Milton in 1989, so after 30 years I finally got the chance to captain a county team where it all began.
Morning Foursomes
Taylor Sargeant and Jack Brown played Richard Wale and Tom Roberts in game 1. When you start a game with Jack Brown trying to talk Taylor out of playing a miracle shot on the 1st hole, which he then pulled off with ease, you get the feeling that something is in the air. Jack then hit it pretty close on the 2nd and they were away. The Kingsthorpe pair looked in total control throughout the front 9 but were pegged back by an easy birdie on 13 after Richard's 350-yard drive. They then fell behind with another birdie on 14, but these boys are made of strong stuff and bounced back to win 15 and more importantly 18 for a 1up win.
Tiger Adams and Ian Wicks played against Matt Peyton and Luke Burrows in game 2. The Northants pair started with an easy birdie, despite Ian's best efforts to drop a wedge in the lake! Luckily for Ian, for some reason his wedges float. You got the sense quite early on that it was not a case of if they would win but rather by how many. Add together some really solid golf and a few birdies and you have yourself a nice 5&4 win.
Tom Burgh and Ryan Genner played Jake Crowshaw and George Griffiths in game 3. Another game where it was likely to be a case of winning by how many rather than if. Tom and Ryan were cruising along at 3up before losing 15 and 16, but luckily, they are made of stern stuff and didn't let it affect them, winning 2&1.
Chris Savage and Jay Noye played Johnny Peacock and Leicestershire Captain John Fairbrother. A close game which could have gone either way, but it definitely included the comedy moment of the day. Jay hit a nice drive on the 5th, leaving Chris around 100 yards to a front pin. I'll be kind and say it looked a bit thin out of the heel and it ended up in the right bunker. Jay proceeded to hit the next shot equally thin, but out of the middle, and somehow it the material part of the flag, bounced and spun back in to the hole. Captain went mad, Leicestershire didn't seem amused. One of those games though, where every time they got ahead the Northants pair were pegged back, before eventually losing 2 down.
3-1 up at lunchtime, game on.
Afternoon Singles
Chris Savage played Richard Wale in game 1 and fell behind quickly against a quality opponent. Arriving at the turn 2 down, Chris won the 10th before going birdie, birdie, eagle and was still 1 down. Tough school. Another birdie on 17 saw the end of a high-quality match with Chris losing 2&1.
Taylor Sargeant played Luke Burrows in game 2 which was a first team match in all but name. Taylor continued his impressive record on the day and must be knocking on the door of the first team now after a 2up win to collect his 2nd point of the day.
All looking pretty good so far right? 4-2 ahead, just another 2 ½ points for victory"¦ what could go wrong!?
Tiger Adams played game 3 against Jake Crowshaw and despite a decent start fell behind to a barrage of birdies, before eventually going down 3&2.
Tom Burgh played Tom Roberts in the 4th game, who is probably Leicestershire's longest hitter. I was hoping that was a relatively pointless advantage at Milton as most of the holes have doglegs and all of the holes have small greens. Sadly, it was quite some advantage, with the highlight being the 350-yard drive down the 13th, to leave a wedge in to the par 5. I've never seen anyone there since the new tee was built. Tom ended up losing 3&2.
Jack Brown played George Griffiths in game 5 and had been impressive over the course of the match with the driver and irons looking as good as the mercurial short game he has. It just looked like one or two slightly crooked shots were fully "miltoned" and Jack ended up going down 4&3. It doesn't take a lot at this level to end up with a harsh scoreline.
Ryan Genner played Matt Peyton in game 6 with Northamptonshire now finding themselves 5-4 behind. If we were going to get anything out of the game it would take the 2nd team "postman" to deliver his customary singles win. Ryan did not disappoint and battled hard to win 2&1 to collect his 2nd point of the day and I'm genuinely not sure anyone gives more to a team than Ryan. Another player who must be looking up to the first team and be waiting for the call.
2 games left"¦ 5-5 and both Milton players to come"¦ surely, this time!?
Jay Noye played Johnny Peacock and Ian Wicks took on John Fairbrother in games 7 and 8 respectively and they did not disappoint"¦ having waited 30 years to Captain a county side at my home club, they did not disappoint, they devastated. Jay ended up losing 5&4 and Ian lost 3&1. A 7-5 loss, admittedly to last year's champions, but each defeat hurts even more than the last. The same score line as last year but strangely nowhere near as close.
