Scratch Team Newsflash

Ramsey’s Scratch Team won a thrilling County play off final tonight, at a cold and wet St Ives GC.

Martin Hollands & Ollie Wright maintained a 1 up lead right from the start, and were comfortably in control of their match playing superb golf in very difficult conditions. They never lost their lead throughout the evening, and finally broke away at hole 15 to finally win their match 3+2

Scratch Team Captain Paul Hodgkin & Mark Allen went behind at the first, and never got back on level terms. Despite trailing 3 Down after 11, they never gave up and pulled one back on the 12th. They just couldn’t quite punish Newmarket’s pair and went to Dormie 2 at 17. A very long putt from off the green secured Newmarket the win; 3+1.

It was all now down to Sam Arthur and Nathan Long.
Sam & Nathan were 1 up after 5, but couldn’t pull away from the Newmarket pair thanks to some very fortunate long putts. They were pegged back to All Square after 9, and then lost holes 11 & 12 to be 2 down.
It stayed that way for a couple of holes before Sam & Natahn were able to win the 15th.
They shared the 16th, so went to the 17th 1 Down.
A solid drive from Nathan must have put pressure on Newmarket as he pulled it right and lost the ball….All Square now on the 18th tee.
Solid drives from both players on the par 5 18th, and good second shots.
At the green, Sam’s approach was better than Newmarket’s, and their opponents’s chip on was long, leaving Nathan a long Putt to win.
Just missing the hole, it left Sam a 2′ putt for a win if Newmarket missed their 8 foot return putt……which they did!
Sam kept his nerve as the cold wet sky darkened, and he cooly sank the putt for a Ramsey win!

Congratulations to Team Captain Paul and the whole Scratch Team Squad who played this season to get to this final. A thrilling end on a very cold and wet evening.

County presented the shield to Scratch Captain Paul and his winning team

Good luck now to Paul and his team on Friday, when the Scratch Team take on the same opponents at Ramsey in the semi final of the County Goddard Cup

Captain Phil