Words by Tim Allan, Pictures by Jonny Bramley
Tony Smith’s claret and blue army fell agonisingly short of victory against their French rivals in the 33rd Wryter Cup.
The PGS, superbly led by an inspirational Smith, went down 17½-14½ to their powerful APG rivals on the wonderful Granville Dunes course.
West Ham fan Smithy, whose team wore sky blue on day one and claret on day two, said: “I could not be prouder of my team. They played their hearts out and tried as hard as they could against a team with lots of low handicappers.
“I’ve had one of the greatest weekends of my life. It was wonderful! The match was played in a great spirit and there is true friendship between the teams, which was lovely to see.”
The PGS stormed into a strong position after day one, which was played in truly atrocious conditions. The winds were gusting to more than 40 miles an hour and the rain came down in horizontal sheets, making even connecting with the ball a very challenging prospect.
Smith’s team took the morning foursomes 5-3, with wins for Nev Appleton and rookie Neil White, Smithy and Khalid Javed, Felix Duckworth and Colin Hancock, and a huge 6&5 win for Evan Samuel and Ollie McCormack. Tim Allan and rookie Mike Waker battled heroically to claim a half after being five down at the turn!
It is a quirk of Granville that the stroke indexes mean higher handicap players get all their shots on the back nine, so fightbacks were always on against a French team with a lot of low handicappers.
In the afternoon fourballs, the PGS won 4½-3½, with wins for Jonny Bramley and Nev, Steve Lewis and Mike, Smithy and Tim, and Paolo and Colin. Ollie McCormack and Khalid played superbly to claim a half against a strong French pairing.
Sadly, the more benign conditions on Tuesday seemed to favour the French, who won the singles 11-5 to seal victory. Incredibly, nine of the matches went to the last hole, but the PGS were only able to win two of those.
The singles wins came courtesy of Smithy, who won all his matches; Tim, Paolo and Mike, who all scored 2½ points; and Andy Glen.
Mike had a Wryter Cup debut to remember, as he struck up a very promising bromance with the APG’s Edouard Combette and also claimed the Vic Woodman Trophy, awarded to the PGS player who best exemplifies the spirit of the Wryter Cup. He also has a new nickname, after his new friend Edouard noticed his resemblance to Harry Potter!
The course, town, nightlife and food were all top-notch. It’s always good when we stay in a seafront hotel next door to a casino on one side and an English pub that stays open till 2am on the other.
The French now lead the Wryter Cup overall standings 17-16….but we’ll have the chance to get it back to all square at Royal Dornoch next year.
Click here to see the full results from Granville
And the winners:
If a picture paints a 1,000 words – Tim Allan & Jono Baker look for a ball in The Berkshire heather but still enjoy their day! Pic by Nick Toksvig
Andy Glen continued his love affair with The Berkshire, winning The Sun Challenge Trophy for the fifth time in its 18 year history as a singles competition.
On a day of sunshine and low scoring, where no one played to their handicap – The Berkshire heather had more than a little to do with that – Andy carded 35 points on the Blue Course in the morning, also winning Division One. Behind him were Tim Allan, with 32 points, and Neil White, who came third on count back.
In Division 2, Peter Dazeley won with 33 points, beating James Saville, who carded 32 points, and who pipped Ben Todd on count back.
Andy’s round could have been even better – despite playing off of 5, he was two shots under gross after the first 10 holes before proving himself mortal.
After an excellent lunch, Andy was not satisfied with his morning efforts, and, combining with the evergreen Chris Stevens, landed The Sir George Sutton Salver. Their 33 points was one ahead of Ben Griffiths & Tim Allan, and two in front of third place Dylan Dronfield and Paul Kelso.
Photos by Khalid, Nick, Nev, Smudge, Patrick, Evan, Dean, Neil, Chris, Jonny & me!
Nick Toksvig enjoys the skipper’s hospitality.
Words by Tim Allan, pics by Tony Smith
Skipper Tony Smith did us proud, the team for the Wryter Cup was settled and new boy Adam Piggott claimed the Billennium Bowl; quite a Captain’s Day for Smudge!
Adam, playing his first PGS event after joining the society in June, took the Division One honours at Mannings Heath, where he and Tony are both members.
An allegedly embarrassed Adam, said: “Local knowledge definitely helped me!’ He pushed Andy Porter, with 30 points, into second place in Division One, with Steve Lewis’s 28 good enough to take third on countback. In Division Two, Ian Woods came out on top with 28 points, ahead of Paolo Minoli on 27 and Jeff Randall on 25.
In between dishing out sustenance, advice and bonhomie on the 10th tee with girlfriend Caroline, Captain Tony admitted: “I was a little nervous about the day but I’m delighted everyone enjoyed themselves.”
He also laid on nearest the pin prizes on all the par threes, a long drive prize on the tricky 11th, and a nearest the pin in two prize on the 15th. Our generous sponsors, Golfbreaks, made a very handsome payment into the PGS coffers and also provided plenty of golf balls!
The Harold Lewis Weight for Age Trophy, open to all members aged 65 and over, was won by the evergreen photography doyen Patrick Eagar.
Captain Smith presents ‘evergreen’ Patrick Eagar with his prize for winning the ‘Harold Lewis Weight for Age Trophy’. Photo by Paolo Minoli
The day was also the the final qualifier for The Wryter Cup, and after the game Tony announced his team to travel to France:
Tony Smith, Captain
Jonny Bramley
Khalid Javed
Ian Woods
Mike Waker
Nev Appleton
Ollie McCormack
Ben Todd
Paolo Minoli
Colin Hancock
Evan Samuel
Felix Duckworth
Steve Lewis
Neil White
Andy Glen
Tim Allan
The reserves are Mike Allen and Kevin Price.
These pics by Patrick Eagar:
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- MANNINGS HEATH – AUGUST 20: Captain’s Day, Tony Smith with winner of the Billenium Bowl and local member Adam Piggott on his first outing with the PGS 2024 12401965 photograph by Patrick Eagar
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- MANNINGS HEATH – AUGUST 20: Captain’s Day, Tony Smith with winner of the Billenium Bowl and local member Adam Piggott on his first outing with the PGS 2024 12401962 photograph by Patrick Eagar
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- MANNINGS HEATH – AUGUST 20: Captain’s Day, BBQ lunch 2024 12401956 photograph by Patrick Eagar
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- MANNINGS HEATH – AUGUST 20: Captain’s Day, BBQ lunch 2024 12401951 photograph by Patrick Eagar
And these were supplied by our skipper:
Nick Jones and captain Tony Smith are delighted to give their old golfing outfits one last hurrah!
Words and pics by Nic Brook
It was – as Wodehouse may have agreed – a morning when the whole of nature cried “Phwoar, it’s hot!” Royal Blackheath at a sunny 28degs in the shade, combined with linen shirts, long socks, bow ties plus an awful lot of tweed not an ideal fit – in more ways than one. Yet nobody seemed to mind, as all there were intent on enjoying one of our most bonkers fixtures of the PGS year …and enjoy it they did!
Royal Blackheath v the British Golf Collectors’ Society v the PGS …with hickories, so an appropriate doff of the straw trilby in our 120th year to our great forebears. Triangular three-ball sixsomes matchplay, involving “Truett Rules” and “Sunningdales” over the “composite” course. A format that nobody quite understood, not least the organisers.
The result? Pure, unadulterated, joyful carnage.
We seemingly came third, but no dishonour there; the golf collectors play jiggers and niblicks all the time after all, while the Blackheath crew have been practicing.
Our PGS stalwarts (Smith & Jones, Easdale & Minoli, McIlgorm & Clothier, Samuel & Wainwright, Brook & Javed) gave a fine performance on the links and proved unbeatable at lunch and later in the Rose Garden. There they delighted Tim Pearson, the club chairman, captain Richard (Bonnie) Langford and other Blackheath luminaries with engaging tales long into the balmy evening. Well played all!
As ever, our thanks to RBGC for their endearing hospitality and the BGCS’s Tony Hunt for the hire of the ancient brassies and mashies. Fore!
Harry Brittain winners Colin Hancock and Jono Baker pose with Captain Tony Smith and Memorial Salver winner Khalid Javed (L to R). Careful observers may notice that only the skipper isn’t smiling (Khalid beat him) – pic by Paolo Minoli.
It was a second coronation for the Kings of Ashridge, Baker & Hancock, who, again, took the Sir Harry Brittain Coronation Trophy,
On a wonderful, if slug strewn, Ashridge Golf Club, the pair (yes, whose names do sound like a provincial solicitor’s practise) scored 41 points in the afternoon Greensomes, just one short of their total last year.
It was a return to winning ways for Khalid Javed, whose 39 points took Division 1 and, more importantly, the PGS Memorial Salver. Division 2 saw Captain Tony Smith take the honours with 36 points.
A special mention for Caroline Day who, playing with husband Ben Todd, came an admirable third in the Greensomes on her PGS debut.
Images by Paolo Minoli, Tony Smith, Evan Samuel & Nick Toksvig
