Page 62 - OM Newsletter - Issue 43 - 2020

OM SPORT
OM GOLFING SOCIETY
It has been a remarkable year the Old Malvernian Golfing Society. To have won both the Halford Hewitt and the Bernard Darwin tournaments and to lose so narrowly in the final of the Grafton Morrish makes for an exceptional year. Add to this that we also tied first in the prestigious Alba Trophy (scratch foursomes tournament played at Woking GC) before the Old Wykehamists prevailed over the Old Malvernian pair (Tim Duerr and Adrian Barrett-Greene) in a play-off down the 18th. And, finally, one of the greatest honours in the world of golf has gone one of our very own, Clive Edginton who ‘drove in’ on the 1st tee of the Old Course as the new Captain of The Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews.
First to the Halford Hewitt, a tournament played at Royal Cinque Ports GC and Royal St Georges GC. The Halford Hewitt has been described by the golf writer Nick Tremayne as ‘the greatest of all truly amateur tournaments’. Founded in 1924 (by an Old Malvernian, G.L. ‘Susie’ Mellin) it is competed for today by the old boys of 64 English and Scottish public schools which each field five foursomes pairs, making 640 competitors in all. The sheer size of the field - plus the hundreds of supporters who routinely turn up - make the Hewitt a unique sporting event.
Malvern entered the competition as the winners of the previous year’s Plate completion and were quietly confident under the captaincy of Tim Duerr. The team was a tight-knit group, who very much revelled in being labelled the underdogs in a tough side of the draw. They had the perfect blend of grizzled, wily, seasoned players, with many caps between them and a sprinkling of young, thrusting players, brimming with enthusiasm and energy for what lay ahead.
On the first day Malvern beat Marlborough and holders, Winchester. On the second day the team prevailed against both Rugby and a perennially-strong Tonbridge team. In the semi-final Malvern beat Watson’s 3.5-1.5 in a dour struggle where every match went to the 18th and the deciding game, no.4, was won by Malvern (Henry Aldridge and Sébastien Blanchet) at the 19th.
So to the final: Ampleforth against Malvern, played in a fine sporting spirit and appallingly- cold conditions, reminiscent of the story about the man driving the refrigerated truck across
Canada who broke down and got into the back to keep warm. Indeed, as the afternoon went on, it got colder and colder and the sky greyer and greyer. The matches all swung to and fro with many come-backs and shifts in momentum. As dusk approached it was 2-all and victory hinged on the final match (Beeson and Timberlake) who were one down approaching the 18th. Malvern won the 18th, and I mean won it, with a good drive before Beeson hit a truly magnificent iron shot to within three feet. Ampleforth failed to get up and down from short of the green so conceded the putt and they went off down the 19th. There was little to separate the two pairs in this final match, indeed in was only at the 23rd (the fifth extra hole!) that Malvern made an unmatched par to win their match and the tournament.
The team deserves to be named individually for their heroics: Tim Duerr (captain), Henry Aldridge, Adrian Barrett-Greene, William Beeson, Hugo Blanchet, Sébastien Blanchet, Adrian Coleman, Chris Crisp, Will Gifford, Ian Timberlake and Dan Walker.
NexttotheBernardDarwin,apublicschools scratch foursomes matchplay competition played in early July at Woking GC. Each team is made up of six golfers, all aged over 55 years old. In the first round Malvern defeated Repton (who then won the Plate). In round two we defeated a strong Charterhouse side. The following morning the team beat Winchester in the semi-final before prevailing over Harrow, winning the top two games by 5/4. It was a tremendous team performance by all three pairs (Adrian Barrett-Greene and Adrian Coleman, Guy Davis and Philip Manduca and Simon Dalby and David Price) and captained by Clive Edginton.
And to what could have been... a wet and windy October weekend on the North Norfolk coast at the links courses of Hunstanton GC and Brancaster GC for the final ‘major’ tournament of the year. William Beeson and his team made the final of the Grafton Morrish on Sunday. It was a very tight match where we lost by the narrowest of margins to Birkenhead (2/1). But what an effort, where Malvern played great golf throughout. Our two lost games in the final were the first games we had lost the whole way through - truly astonishing considering the quality of the opposition. An unbelievable all-round effort and one of which
our team must be extraordinarily proud. To give you some sense of the quality of the golf, after 5 tournament rounds two of our pairs were cumulatively several under par (gross), and the other pair was barely over par. The week started well in the Thursday practice round where one of the team shot 65 and a pair shot a 61 gross better ball at Brancaster! The team was Henry Aldridge, William Beeson, Chris Crisp, Tim Duerr, Dan Walker and Giles Winthrop.
As only befits amarvelous season, it was Jeremy Lowe who summed it up: “It seems that Malvern has rediscovered our ‘mojo’ and we have a bright and strong future.”
The Society wishes Clive Edginton [the very best] for his Captaincy of the R&A, we will look out for you on the TV during the Open Championship at Sandwich in July!
And so the Society’s other 25+ fixtures and meetings...! To run through at a canter, we held our 47th Annual Society Dinner at the Royal Thames Yacht Club, where our past President, Peter Mathieson is a member. The Captain, Dr Mark Winter, welcomed our guests and Nick Owen (Old Alleynian, Honorary Member of OMGS and Secretary of the Public Schools Golfing Society) responded as our guest speaker replied on their behalf. Richard Hendicott presented the Chesterton Salver, donated by George Chesterton in 1992, the year of his captaincy, in recognition of the Member who had made a major contribution to Society affairs over the years to Adrian Barrett-Greene who played in his 100th match in the 2018 Halford Hewitt.
In the Society’s nine matches against other alumni teams, we had wins against Cranleigh, Haileybury, Rugby and Uppingham, and draws with Sherborne and Winchester. Against the College’s greatest rivals we shall not dwell on the drubbing inflicted by Repton and our narrow loss to Shrewsbury (and Marlborough) other than to say we had some very convivial lunches which may have softened our competitive edge! As with all these fixtures, the result matter less than the enjoyment and spirt of the game and any member who wishes to play in a match (whatever your handicap) is welcome.
Our four Society meetings – Spring at St George’s Hill GC, Summer at Blackwell GC, Northern at Formby GC and Autumn at Royal Cinque Ports GC were very well attended.
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