South Wales Seniors League 2021.
Dyfed V Glamorgan.
OUT OF THE JAWS OF ……………….
After the SWSL match at Builth Wells was cancelled a few weeks ago because of heavy rain and course flooding, it was nice to travel down to Machynys ( The only Jack Nicklaus designed golf course built in Wales) outside Llanelli to play against a strong Dyfed side strengthened by a few new low handicappers.
Glamorgan County team included some new recruits of their own as well, including Warren Williams from Clyne GC, Tim Rees from Pennard GC, and Nigel Hedley from Maesteg GC, with Richard Williams of Neath playing for the County for only the second time.
In the absence of usual Captain Ian Henderson ( who was away on holiday) the baton was passed onto Ed Morgan with the assistance of Chris Bailey.
The morning Foursomes started brightly for Glamorgan with regular Radyr pairing of Gwyn Jones and Meurig Phillips getting a hard earned half, followed by a win (1 up)for new boys Tim Rees and Warren Williams.Unfortunately that’s when the good news finished and the three remaining games were lost’ to leave Dyfed leading at the end of the morning by 3.5 to 1.5.
The afternoon started well again when Gwyn Jones won 3+2 ( what would we do without him?).Defeats for our new boys Tim and Warren against multi Tenby Champion John Morris, and Cardigan’s Brian Russell followed, before Steve Watkins’s opponent decided to leave the course at the twelfth green as he wasn’t feeling well when the game was all square.
Meurig Phillips won comfortably against Dyfed Captain Huw Dixon 3+2, Nigel Hedley came up against experienced left hander Alan Shaw from Borth 3+2, whilst Glamorgan stalwart Chris Glenny won 3+2 against Tenby’s Stuart Sutcliffe.
The last three remaining matches all went down to the wire when Richard Williams won on the last green (1 UP) to gain an invaluable point , as Pat Regan was one down teeing off on the eighteenth but he also managed to win the hole and salvage a half point. At this stage in the proceedings both teams were now on 7 points each, although earlier on in the afternoon it had looked a bit bleak for Glamorgan.
When Martin Brock and Rod Haig left the sixteenth green they were all square, but a very good par on the downhill par three seventeenth gave Martin the lead when his opponent put his ball in the bunker and could only secure a four. A par five on the last hole meant that Glamorgan had gained the required one point needed to win the match.
A great fighting comeback had secured an important win for the County, and as the Captain stated in his winning speech he hoped that all the Glamorgan men had been motivated to win today for the sake of our great stalwart and friend Nick Caulfield.
Ed Morgan,
