Pitcher Success for East Sussex National
Gents Teams scoop 3rd success of the year
ESN Pyecombe Pitcher Team win final against Littlehampton in brutal 45mph + wind and horizontal rain
We turned up early at Pyecombe Golf Club to have the now customary full English and watch England beat the All Blacks to get to the World Cup Final. What a performance and the question was could we replicate that team performance against a strong Littlehampton team.
The weather on the front 9 was extremely windy making conditions difficult but this was nothing compared to what was to come as the 5 pairs turned for home on the back 9.
Heavy horizontal rain for the rest of the round combined with very strong crosswinds on most holes made birdies almost impossible and par a great result.
ESN held the lead in all but the 1st match at the halfway stage and the job now was to hang on to it and make fewer mistakes than the opposition when at times you couldn’t even grip your club.
Some superb play over the closing holes saw our 1st pairing of Mark Budd and Rob Thompson come back to win by a shot on the 18th both saying it felt like their best ever win.
Some gritty and high quality play from Andy Larkin and Sean Wootten added to some great course management on the 18th that was playing into a 40mph headwind saw them maintain their advantage and win their match.
They were followed by Dean Plant and James Heard who having been 2 shots up at the turn extended their lead to 5 with a great round of 1 under par.
We had now won the match but with 2 matches still out on the course there was no let up as the last 2 pairings stayed out in front as the weather worsened with Tom Foreman and Marcus Opoku showing tremendous tenacity to hold off an unbelievable fight back from their opponents who played the back 9 in 1 under par! And Steve Graham and Alan Ratcliffe playing in the worst of the weather and their opponents refusing to concede their game kept their 6 shot lead to the end.
Well played Guys!
So with a resounding 5-0 win in the final ESN win the Pyecombe Pitcher winning all their 6 matches in the competition that started with a 4 team league before semi and final with an overall record of:
Total games played 30
Won 24
Halved 0
Lost 6
A superb performance from the team that played the final
in the worst conditions imaginable on the back 9.
But also huge thanks to Mark Hilton, Craig McCollum, Jordi Southgate, Olly Dickman, Simon Heather and Greg Ford who all played a game during our run to the final and were all unbeaten. With special mentions to Tony Plant who played every game up to the semi but got cut to Cat 1 and Paul Plant who played every game but got injured at the County finals a week before the Pitcher final.
This win caps a superb year all round for ESN in both team and individual competitions showing the strength and depth of the ESN Membership.
We will be back next year to defend our title.
James Heard - Captain
We turned up early at Pyecombe Golf Club to have the now customary full English and watch England beat the All Blacks to get to the World Cup Final. What a performance and the question was could we replicate that team performance against a strong Littlehampton team.
The weather on the front 9 was extremely windy making conditions difficult but this was nothing compared to what was to come as the 5 pairs turned for home on the back 9.
Heavy horizontal rain for the rest of the round combined with very strong crosswinds on most holes made birdies almost impossible and par a great result.
ESN held the lead in all but the 1st match at the halfway stage and the job now was to hang on to it and make fewer mistakes than the opposition when at times you couldn’t even grip your club.
Some superb play over the closing holes saw our 1st pairing of Mark Budd and Rob Thompson come back to win by a shot on the 18th both saying it felt like their best ever win.
Some gritty and high quality play from Andy Larkin and Sean Wootten added to some great course management on the 18th that was playing into a 40mph headwind saw them maintain their advantage and win their match.
They were followed by Dean Plant and James Heard who having been 2 shots up at the turn extended their lead to 5 with a great round of 1 under par.
We had now won the match but with 2 matches still out on the course there was no let up as the last 2 pairings stayed out in front as the weather worsened with Tom Foreman and Marcus Opoku showing tremendous tenacity to hold off an unbelievable fight back from their opponents who played the back 9 in 1 under par! And Steve Graham and Alan Ratcliffe playing in the worst of the weather and their opponents refusing to concede their game kept their 6 shot lead to the end.
Well played Guys!
So with a resounding 5-0 win in the final ESN win the Pyecombe Pitcher winning all their 6 matches in the competition that started with a 4 team league before semi and final with an overall record of:
Total games played 30
Won 24
Halved 0
Lost 6
A superb performance from the team that played the final
in the worst conditions imaginable on the back 9.
But also huge thanks to Mark Hilton, Craig McCollum, Jordi Southgate, Olly Dickman, Simon Heather and Greg Ford who all played a game during our run to the final and were all unbeaten. With special mentions to Tony Plant who played every game up to the semi but got cut to Cat 1 and Paul Plant who played every game but got injured at the County finals a week before the Pitcher final.
This win caps a superb year all round for ESN in both team and individual competitions showing the strength and depth of the ESN Membership.
We will be back next year to defend our title.
James Heard - Captain