The OO Golf Society inflicted a 5-0 victory over Mill Hill in the 1st Round of the Centenary Halford Hewitt at Royal St George’s on 11 April. Captain Richard Harris (F 91) assembled a strong squad of players for this premier schools scratch foursomes event, in which there are 64 teams. His order for this match was: Tristan Tusa (S 16) & Sam Stocks (Ldr 17); Patrick Foster (St A 05) & Richard Pentecost (St A 05); Angus Lang (F 09) & Andrew Lightowler (Ls 97); Mark Eddy (St A 84) & Jack Ireson (Ls 15); Steve Carr (S 84) & Tom Goodley (G 99) – all 5 pairs played well and deserved their points.
In the 2nd Round against Framingham, George Crawley (Ls 20) made his debut to play alongside Jack. Both sons of masters at Oundle played well and secured a point in a 4-1 victory which perhaps sounds easier than it actually was: Patrick and Richard were 4 down with 5 to play and heroically won all the last 5 holes! This made life much easier for the other pairs, especially after the youngsters Tris and Sam, playing in the top pair, had another big win themselves.
The 3rd Round match at Deal against Tonbridge, perennial big-hitters in this tournament, was to prove just too difficult. Captain Richard kept the same team order, but this time in close matches, the top two pairs lost by the narrowest of margins on the 18th. Pair 5 made a good comeback but eventually ran out of holes. Special mention for Jack & George who again won on 17. The 3rd pair took the mandatory half; overall result 1 1/2 to 3 1/2.
Oundle first entered the tournament in 1931 and famously won the cup in 1962 and 1997: this brave young team has the capacity to repeat the feat in the near future.
