Wiltshire Seniors on the Verge of History

Match: Wiltshire Seniors v Cornwall Seniors (Channel League)

Date: Monday 5 September 2016

Venue: Carlyon Bay, St Austell, Cornwall

Carlyon Bay Golf Club, St Austell on Sunday, our practice day, was the picture-perfect postcard of Cornwall on a good day; the weather was pleasant, the wind a mere zephyr and the course prepared in good order.  Apart from one member of our team (arriving later in the evening) everyone reported positive feedback on learning a lot about the course; the rallying team talk before dinner (not quite Mel Gibsonesque!), dinner and an early night for all (well, almost all!).  A good day of preparation.

Match day was forecast to be a little bit of fog early in the morning but clearing and remaining light cloud for the day.  The BBC weather forecasting effort was poor!  Like the weather!  It was overcast; drizzle/rain on and off (mostly on!) all day.  We hadn’t trained for this and the morning result might have reflected our unpreparedness.

Plan ‘A’ was that we would come out like hares from the trap and run up an impressive morning lead…..  Oh, my!  How we failed in this plan is reflected in our morning drubbing from the Cornwall boys.  We came in to lunch with only half a point out of five to show for all our early high hopes.  The captain’s message that we must ‘never surrender, we will fight them on the beaches, we will never give up….’ was tinged as much with hope than expectation but the message was: ‘win YOUR point, never give up, all we need to do to win this match is 7½ points’ from the 10 available in the afternoon (though 7 points would secure us a half point, and top of the league, if the match was drawn).  This was our Plan ‘B’.  J

Roger Searle (High Post) was imperious, out at number 1, and did what he does best…he won our first point; Chris Graham (Ogbourne) and Per-Axel Warensjo (Marlborough) gave us a 3-2 lead after the first five matches.  It was a good start but we needed a strong finish.  What we got from the remaining five matches was nothing less than what is becoming expected from Wiltshire performances…it was MAGNIFICENT!  David Lewis (Marlborough), Paul Dimond (The Wiltshire) and Simon Dymoke (The Wiltshire) all won their matches.  In our chase to pick up 7½ (or 7) points in the afternoon, the score after eight matches was: Wiltshire 6, Cornwall 2.  We narrowly failed to score a win in the ninth match and the score was poised, with the last match yet to be decided… Wiltshire 6, Cornwall 3.  We needed a win!

Both teams had players and officials lining the hill at the back of the Carlyon Bay 18^th green (a not so easy 186 yard par3); the final pair emerged through the hedges and stepped up onto the 18^th tee…the match was still in the balance.

Clive Watson (Chippenham) was 1UP, one to play; the Cornwall player (Mike Wigley, Trevose) teed-off first and came up ten to fifteen feet short of the green.  Watson stepped up, paused over his tee-shot, had a look at the target, settled his massive frame over the ball, and, in only his second game for the county, unleashed a magnificent strike…the ball sailed over the flag and finished fifteen to twenty feet past the hole.  Everyone applauded.  It was now clear that the Cornwall player needed to chip in from off the green to give Cornwall the chance to halve the game and win the match for Cornwall.  Mike Wigley made a game effort but failed to make birdie; Watson calmly stroked his ball to within gimme range, the hole was halved and the game was won with the point going to Wiltshire!  The crowd erupted - well, the Wiltshire boys erupted and the Cornwall boys applauded discretely!

Wiltshire had, with great determination, single-minded will to win, and ability, achieved the half point we needed which propelled us to the top of the Channel League.   Watson was our last hole, last point hero but everyone who played today was a hero.  Thank you boys, a great result!  FANBLOODYTASTIC!!  Great day at Carlyon Bay!!

The Cornwall boys and Carlyon Bay (apart from the horrible weather during the match) were truly exemplary and, both on and off the course, we had a great relationship with the gentlemen from Cornwall - thank you Cornwall, thank you Carlyon Bay.  Look forward to seeing you next year in ‘sunny’ Wiltshire!

Final word: Wiltshire has never before taken more than three points in a full Channel League season – until now; Wiltshire has never been to of the League at this stage of any season – until now; Wiltshire has never been in a position to win the Channel League – until now.  However!!...we can still be caught and passed, so, there is time to celebrate all the good stuff up to date but we ain’t won nuthin’ yet!  We are in a strong position and if (when!?) we WIN at Cumberwell against Glamorgan on Wednesday 5^th October…we can only then claim to have made our own little bit of Wiltshire golfing history in being the first Wiltshire team to win The Channel League.  Just think, they could be making statues of this squad!!  But first…take nothing for granted, focus on the one remaining objective, let's win on Wednesday 5 October!

Win on 5 October!!  Don’t ever give up!  Win on 5 October.  Don’t ever give up.  Win on 5 October…

Aye

Bill Cardno

Wiltshire County Seniors Captain

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