Bedfordshire Boys win BUT Trophy
The opening event of the competitive season for the U18 Boys' Team is the annual meeting with Norfolk and Leicestershire & Rutland to play for the BUT Trophy. This is a triangular match between teams of 10 playing foursomes matchplay in the morning and singles matchplay in the afternoon. This year we travelled to Great Yarmouth & Caister Golf Club for the event.
Wednesday morning was misty with just a gentle breeze. By all accounts exceptionally good weather conditions for Yarmouth! The lads were in good spirits and looking forward to keeping up our winning record. Excellent performances in the morning left us in the lead at lunchtime with 6.5 points followed by Norfolk on 5.5. The sun came out to celebrate the lads' golf but we knew that there was still a lot of work to be done.
Brandon Sanders led us out in the afternoon. He and the Norfolk player had a tough time against Leicestershire, both losing heavily but Brandon was victorious in the hard fought match with Norfolk. Eagles on both Par 5s on the back nine showed Brandon's potential.
Jack Manley won both his matches having displayed some excellent driving throughout the afternoon. Jack has now been selected to play for the County First Team. Well done.
Arnie Arkanath, as cool as always, came home with two points.
Matt Green seemed disappointed to have only scored one and a half points but to get the half with Norfolk was quite some achievement having been heavily down at the turn.
Eddie Stephenson was also down at the turn but managed to win one and a half points through dogged persistence.
Andres Valentine, our very own "Zorro", two points. Nothing more to be said.
Zach Peters played with a borrowed putter in the afternoon and won us a vital point. Thanks to our County Secretary - David Hawkins - Zach has experienced a new putter that seemed to work for him. Is there a very early Christmas present waiting to be bought?
Finlay Cummings kept the momentum going with a further two points.
Will Glenister got a win but couldn't quite overcome the challenge from the Norfolk player - he made up for this with his maiden speech as Captain.
Aidan Abbott was the anchorman and he too brought home a point.
This was an enormous performance by all of the Team. Everyone made a significant contribution. However, particular praise must go to Gary Munro, our Team Manager, who has the knowledge and experience to guide these young men as they develop along their golfing paths. They respond to his guidance.
We were supported on the day by David Hawkins our County Secretary, Les Tucker, our County President and David Oliver who is a Past President and now a member of Great Yarmouth & Caister Golf Club. Thanks to all three for their support.
The Team. From left to right: Gary Munro (Manager) Brandon Sanders, Matt Green, Arnie Arkanath, Andres Valentine, Aidan Abbott, Eddie Stephenson, Finlay Cummings, Jack Manley, Zach Peters, Will Glenister (Captain) & Martin McDermott.
One final "WELL DONE" to everyone who participated. The BUT Trophy is back on my bookshelf!!
Martin McDermott.
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