Seniors Channel League 2021 v Glamorganshire at Wrag Barn

On a day when it appeared that Spring/Summer had finally arrived the first match of the 2021 Seniors Channel Team was played against Glamorganshire.

In the sunshine and warmth the course at Wrag Barn looked an absolute picture, with the ravages of the winter/spring weather barely visible and the teams were able to spend most of the day in the sun on the course or sat on the terrace, a most welcome change.

In a transitional year for the Seniors there were five ‘rookies’ representing the County for this match and after a few minutes of introduction and reacquaintances over coffee it was obvious that team bonding would not be a problem.

Facing a strong Glamorganshire team, containing the reigning Welsh Seniors Champion, the players set out for the morning nine hole, greensome matches. Early indications were that the final match of the five was likely to be pivotal and so it proved. With Chris Graham facing a downhill 10 footer to halve their match which would result in the greensomes being drawn, his effort just slid by leaving Wiltshire 3 – 2 down. Not a disaster by any means and with the singles pairings well matched it was going to be a good competition in the afternoon.

The matches with Glamorganshire have always been played in the best of competitive spirits and meeting up again, after missing out last year, was one of the pleasures of the day. Their Captain, Ian Henderson, is a gentlemen I have played against on several occasions who leads by example in attitude and enthusiasm.

The first four singles matches were shared and the fifth result going to the visitors we were in for an exciting finale. Martyn Evans wrapped up his match on the 16th to bring us back to just one behind overall. At this stage the final four matches were very close.

Mark Slater, one of our rookies, played the final two holes in 2 under par to win his match 1 up which seemed to be the spark required. Simon Dymoke was next in with a very hard fought match for a half and the ‘old timers’ Paul Bloomfield and Chris Graham brought home the result with wins on the 18th and 17th respectively.

This was a great win for what is a ‘young’ team. The standard of play is incredibly high and Wiltshire has a team that can compete with the best.

Throughout the day, Tim Manners, owner of Wrag Barn was out on the course supporting the players and we thank him and the staff of the club for their hospitality, organisation and condition of the golf course.

Our next match is not until the end of July when we welcome Gwent to Kingsdown but before then we have the South West Seniors Championships at Ferndown where we should be selecting our strongest ever team.

Please click here for Match result

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