Princes EKL v Princes Pro's and CMEN

The Biggest game of the year to date, forget the league, the KO Cup, even the Guilford. This is the one!

1st Match

Tony Davis / Stuart Lane V Charlie Wilson / Saul Saywood (Roger Featherer)

The EKL Pairing of Tony and Stu facing a tough proposition against two of Princes finest Professionals, this was always going to be a tricky match. Could they take Wilko and Roger all the way............

The weather was fantastic, the breakfast superb, we were ready for the off. Up Steps Roger Featherer........... knifes one straight down the middle, GAME ON!

Over to Stu Lane:

After a breakfast with enough toast to make Hovis bankrupt Tony and Stuart were first to tee off against Charlie "Wildman" Wilson and Saul ( I am getting too many shots) Saywood. After all hitting good tee shots at the first the first was halved in pars. Charlie won the second with the worst tee shot I've ever seen in all my days playing golf!

It was clear after a few holes this was going to be a tight match. Tony birdied the 5th and Stuart birdied the 6th, Charlie birdied the 8th and after 9 holes Tony and Stuart were 1 up. Saul got a net birdie at the 10th and Charlie birdied 11. More birdies followed from Saul and Charlie and they closed out the match with another birdie 17 for a 2&1 win to the CMEN.

Professionals go 1up!

2nd Match

David Brett / Ryan Hockley V Steve Parkhouse / Ralph Evans

Bretty :

After an awful start we were three down through three. We battled back to halve the next two, then a birdie on 6 by Bretty won the hole. A good half on the next, and two good tee shots on 8 caused fear in our opponents. One going in the water right, the next in the water left. Back to one down. Two awful tee shots by us, were followed by a tee shot to the fairway bunker, and middle of the fairway. Good recovery shots by both Ryan and myself put the pressure on, which resulted in a win on 9. All square. 10 was won with a good par, 11 with a good birdie by myself. A good half on 12, and an easy par by Ryan with a shot meant we were 3 up. Poor play on 14 resulted in a loss, but we soon won 15 to go dormie. A good long range lag, and a par on 16 was enough for a 3&2 win. The end!

EKL 1 - Pro's 1

3rd Match

David James / Paul Copley V Harry Pierce / Hugh Verrier

3rd Up, the EKL Captains. Pressure was on, we could not let the team down.... could we?

4 Good drives got the match underway, the best drive of the day was Hugh sticking it close to the pot bunker middle of the fairway whilst I managed to go into it.

Hugh did well to be fair and progressed it on nicely. 1st hole halved.

Second hole, Hugh won the hole with a very good par with a shot if i remember correctly which resulted in a very early fist pump and some banter from Hugh. 1 Down.

In what was a very close match saw the EKL boys come back and move into a 1up lead. Coppers and DJ largely playing against Harry on his own as Hugh struggled to get himself into the match.

Coppers was also 1 up in the long drive competition he was having with Harry which provided some extra entertainment to the match.

6th Shore, Hugh putting for birdie for the win pressure was on...........Harry grabs his bag and walks off taking no interest in Hugh's putt!

With Hugh having the flag in on every putt inc 1 cm tap ins, Harry thought the hole was over once the flagstick had been put back and cleared off. Much to Hugh's disgust :o)

Anyway, Hugh missed the putt, onto the 16th 1 up.

Everyone on the green for 3, DJ went through the green for his 3rd but still had a chance for birdie. DJ putted up, ball moving from right to left, tracking......tracking and bang it was in the hole!

DJ proceeded to make silly pistol sounds then holstered his Scotty (Like Jiminez) before Coppers came skipping across the green to high five much to Hugh's disgust. (Karma is a wonderful thing).

Dormie 2.

A half on the 17th ensured the EKL Boys took the match to take the overall score:

EKL 2 - Pro's 1

4th Match

Julian Sinstadt / Rob Riddell V Ant Tarchetti / Ian Smith (Ted)

Jules :

Bad start for us with Ted rolling in a 10 footer for birdie on first. Riddler birdied 2 for all square. We won 3 with par and 4 with net birdie to go 2 up.

Then Things then went south! Tarcs birdied 5 and we lost the next 3 to go 2 down. A par win on 9 got us back to one down. We got back to all square with 3 to play but with no shots, we knew we needed a strong finish. Sadly bogey on 16 and par on 17 left us one down. Tarcs then birdied the last to close the game 2 up.

Riddles:

Great day was had playing Ant & Ted, if your not sure who Ant is hes the one who stands on the left! We lost the 1st to a birdie from Ted and then we got it straight back with a birdie on the 2nd from Riddler, won the 3rd with a par from Jules and won the 4th with a par receiving a shot, lost 5 and won the 6th, anyways we ended up losing the front 9 one down as Anthony started to wake up.Second 9 Lost 1st, halved the 2nd & 3rd, we won the 4th and 5th, halved the 6th lost the 7th and 9th to lose 2 down, great match and can't wait for a rematch

Unlucky lads.

EKL 2 - Pro's 2

5th Match

Steve Klosek / Simon Reed V Darren Stevens / Jordi Loft

The 5th and final match saw the big guns go head to head.

Klos:

Well after the 1st hole we were left struggling to figure out who the Pro was, as the only person not to make a birdie was Jordi!! However that was short lived as he proceeded to birdie the 2nd to go 1 up. Klos then hit a pearler into 4ft on 3, rolls in the putt a/s. 4 straight pars good enough to stay level. Both Stevo and Reedie made birdies on 8 and 9. Match a/s at the turn.

There was nothing between these teams with Klos and Jordi making birdies on 11. Jordi then broke the dead lock with a birdie on 12, 1 down! Stevo then hit a amazing approach into 13, lipping out at dead pace for eagle, however it still wasn't good enough to win the hole with Klos chipping in from back of the green..... boom. Klos was on fire!

Not to be out done step up Reedie, knocking it to 6ft on 14, birdie and a/s. It didn't last long as Jordi won the 15 with a par, back to 1 down. Jordi then knocked it stiff on 16 for an easy birdie, Reedie tried to reply from 15ft but it burnt the left lip and refused to drop! Dorme 2! Jordi hit a good approach on 17 to about 25ft, Klos then put it in to 15ft, not to be outdone Reedie knocked it to 5ft, however Klos thought he would steal the thunder and knocked it in! Dorme 1. Knowing it was all down to thus match Klos hit a great approach into 15ft, needing to hole the putt he stepped up and banged it centre cup with a cheeky fist pump and a chest pump with Reedie we celebrated the half. A great match and a great day all round.

Reedies Words : Klos was amazing.......the end XX

Klos strolls off after holing a great putt for the half!

Final Score : EKL 2.5 / Pro's 2.5

With the clubhouse balcony filling up with various members of both teams, Klos did well to keep his calm and slot it home to halve the match.

Thanks to Geoff for his organizing of the Pro's and C-Team, i'm sure everyone had a brilliant day and enjoyed the various matches.

Tarchetti has already called for a rematch sometime in October so we will see if we can get that up and running, however if we end up with all the Pro's running scared again it might prove tricky :)