Annodata Matchplay - through to the last 32

Saturday the 5th August saw the fourth round of the Annodata matchplay being played against Lanhydrock at Royal North Devon.

With the Met Office issuing an amber warning for strong winds of 50mph + and people returning to the clubhouse saying the course was unplayable it was always going to make for a eventful match but with the opposition sat in the bar ready to go we decided to go for it and get the match played.

Match 1

First out for us was Bob Colwill. Bobs match was a tough contest from the start & was all square through the first 4 holes before Bobs short putt on the 5th was blown off the green by the wind! He then lost 6 through giving a shot to go 2 down.

Bob fought back quickly winning 7 & 8 with well played pars to bring the game back to all square. Holes 9, 10, 11 & 12 were all halved with a combination of pars & bogeys before his opponent made excellent pars on 13 & 14 into the strong winds to go 2 up.

Bob made a very good par on 15 to pull the game back to 1 but then lost 16. After clearing 17 in 2 Bob played a decent chip shot and had a good look at birdie but his putt didn’t drop & both players made par.

A great game. Bob felt he played enough good golf in the conditions to get a result but came up against an excellent performance & congratulations to his opponent on a well earned win! Bob has previously been unbeaten so this was his first loss in the Annodata series.

Match result 2&1 loss

Match 2

Second off was Captain Mike Colwill. After winning the 1st hole with a six and halving the 2nd hole in sixes the opening holes were proving to be difficult straight into the wind.
Mike went on to win the 3rd hole to go 2up but after a great sand save from his opponent on the 5th hole and and another up and down for a net birdie on the 6th Mikes game was A/S. Mike then won the 7th with a par only to fall back to A/S again on the 8th after more magic around the green from his opponent.

After Lanhydrock canned a long putt on the 9th for a net par Mike was 1 down at the turn. Mike found himself going from 1 down to A/S over the next few holes till the match reached 15 where a par put Mike 1up.

Having found the back right bunker on 16 and his opponent in the bushes to the left Mike played a bunker shot out to around 10ft but somehow Lanhydrock chipped onto the green to about 20ft and in true matchplay fashion sunk the putt for a 3.
With the match A/S going down 17 a par was enough to put Mike 1up going down the last.

After two good drives Mikes opponent put his approach shot into about 3ft, Mike hit a shot into the green that ended around 10ft away then unfortunately left the putt short given Lanhydrock the chance to halve the match. The opposition then roller the 3 footer dead in the centre to half the game which was a fair result in such testing conditions.

Match result halved

Match 3

3rd off was Gary Fisher who was giving 2 shots to his opponent Josh. The first was halved with bogies, but bogies were good enough for Gary to then win 2, 3 & 4 to go 3 up early in the game.

Gary’s first par came on the 5th, when he hit his, what is becoming be known as his magical 4 iron onto the green that took the game 4 up. Gary lost the 6th by giving a shot and the 7th when his opponent made a great par to bring the game back to 2 up.

Garys second, and last par of the match, came on the 8th, which won him the hole to get back to 3 up. The 9th hole was halved with bogies and Gary had a quick chat with President Val who braved the weather to come out and support us.

Gary then Lost 10 but bounced back straight away winning 11. The 12th Hole was halved with it being one of Josh’s shot holes which was important for Gary to remain 3up with 6 to play.

Josh made his second and last par of the round on the 13th, which won him the hole.
On 14 Gary hit driver short of the green and halved the hole with a bogey 4. He then won 15 with a bogey after finding the bunker. Dormie 3, and the end was in sight!

Garys tee shot into 16 rolled off the right edge and finished near the rushes. He hacked it out, across the green and off the other side. He was able to use his putter, which he rolled to less than a foot. His opponent was on the green in 2 but he missed his par putt.

Match results 3&2 win

Match 4

Off fourth was RND’s recent winning captain of North Devon League Shaun Loze. The first hole was halved in bogeys, Shaun then went 1 up on the 2nd with a par, Lanhydrock soon fought back and won the 3rd. Shaun responded with a birdie on the 4th to go back to 1 up and halved the 5th with bogeys.

Shaun won the 6th with a par to go 2 up but his opponent then birdied the 7th to claw it back to 1. Shaun made a great up and down on the 8th to restore the 2 up advantage for RND and then went onto to also win the 9th with a par to be 3 up at the turn.

RND went 4 up on the 10th after Shaun hit one of his famous rescue woods to a foot for a tap in birdie. 11 was halved even though Shaun’s opponent was 3 off the tee. Shaun then won the 12th to gain a very strong 5 up lead however a birdie on 13 and a par on 14 from the Lanhydrock player soon closed the gap to 3 down.

The 15th was a bit of a scrappy hole and was eventually halved in double bogeys for Shaun to be dormie 3 up…

With a half needed and his opponent on the green on 16 Shaun selected the wrong club which left him 30 yards short of the green and he missed his 10ft par putt so the game headed down down 17 needing a half which he duly got after his opponent over hit his approach onto the 1st green.

Result 2&1 win

Match 5

The final match for Royal North Devon was Richard Hughes. After playing well in the Billy Gale medal that morning Richard couldn’t wait to get out on the course again in the afternoon.

Richard’s opponent offered him a half in 6 on the first green when they were both about 6ft from the hole, he declined, made the putt and his opponent missed. After this he never went down in the match.

A string of pars and very good golf from Richard was too much for the Lanhydrock player in the very high winds. Richard’s opponent didn’t win a hole in the match until the 12th (getting a shot) however he was already dormie 7 down by this time.

Richard closed the match off in exemplary fashion with a half on the 13th.

Match result 6&5 win

This was another great victory for RND in very testing conditions! We would like to thank Val Cook for coming out to support us during the game.

We have now been drawn to play Stover GC away in round five.

Match captain
Mike Colwill