BB&O V Bedfordshire
On Sunday 1st July, the BBO&O First Team took on Bedfordshire in a SE Group League match at Frilford Heath. In scorching conditions, the Blue Course was looking stunning and playing really hard and fast giving all the players a true test of their ball control skills.
In the morning foursomes, the top match saw the established pairing of David Langley (Castle Royle) & Olly Huggins (Frilford Heath) for BB&O, and Scott Armitage & Greg Osbourne for Bedfordshire. David & Olly played their usual steady and solid golf to secure a 4&3 victory. The 2nd game saw Adam Birdseye (Maidenhead) & Lee White (Frilford Heath) for BB&O against the Bedfordshire pairing of Norman Cilliers & Harry Boyle. The combination of Adam’s long game and Lee’s putting was too much for the Bedfordshire pair, and Adam & Lee followed David & Olly’s lead to also win 4&3. The 3rd game was between Aaron Ashberry (Burford) & Dan Caton (Burnham Beeches) for BB&O against Paul Kenna & Jack Hawksby for Bedfordshire. Unfortunately, Jack & Paul were too good for Aaron & Dan and won to the tune of 2&1. In the final match were George Gardner (Castle Royle) fresh off of his Berkshire Trophy victory alongside Alex Nicholls (Goring & Streatley) for BB&O against Ryan Craig and Luke Baynham for Bedfordshire. A tight match all the way round, but BB&O finally finishing victorious, 2&1. A great morning session for BB&O to go into lunch with a 3-1 lead.
After getting much needed hydration and some time out of the sizzling sun at lunchtime, the teams re-emerged for the afternoon singles. The top match was on paper due to be a fantastic game between David Langley & Jack Hawksby, and it didn’t disappoint. The 2 players battled it out like titans and went down the last hole all square. David hitting it into about 25ft and Jack about 12ft. The opportunity for David to put the pressure on was there and he took it, rolling in a fantastic putt for a birdie 3. Jack saw his putt slide agonisingly by, giving David a hard earned victory, 1 up. In the 2nd game, Olly Huggins used his home advantage to great effect and beat Harry Boyle 3&2. Unfortunately in the 3rd match Lee couldn’t quite find his form and lost his match. However there was good news coming in from elsewhere. Dan Caton lit the course on fire (not literally) to be 8 up through 8 and eventually won 7&6. George Gardner was also continuing his fine form from The Berkshire and convincingly won the bottom match 7&5. Adam Birdseye showed that his 10min trip to the range at lunchtime was well worthwhile and won 6&5, which left 2 matches on the course. Alex Nicholls was having a great tussle with Paul Kenna and the match eventually came down the last. Alex needed to hole is 8ft putt on the final green for a par and victory, did so with aplomb and won his match 1up. The last match on the course was Aaron Ashberry against Norman Cilliers, yet another tight match it was all square on 17. With an agonising 3 putt Aaron lost the hole and found himself 1 down with 1 to play. Both players hit great drives straight down the middle. Aaron pulled out 7 iron, but decided he probably could do with an extra club and switched to 6 iron. It turned out to be the correct decision as he struck it perfectly and with everyone watching it bounced in the middle of the green, rolled towards the hole and dropped in for a fantastic eagle 2!! Needing to hole his shot for the half, Norman couldn’t quite match it but still hit a great shot to 10ft. An amazing end to the match which resulted in a half and an overall victory for BB&O 9.5 to 2.5.
Click here for the full match result
