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ADF singles fail to swing it
Volume 50, No. 13, July 26, 2007 |
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| BEST OF FRIENDS: Ike Bamford, right, and Tony Rowling whom he beat 2 and 1. |
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Singles match play proved the Achilles’ heel of the ADF Golf Association as it handed back the trophy to the Queensland Golf Union after their annual match at Brisbane Golf Club on June 14 and 15.
The QGU beat the ADFGA 8.5 matches to 3.5 in the singles, with the QGU also winning the fourball best ball event 4-2 and the foursomes 4.5 matches to 1.5 for an overall 17-7 win.
The ADF team fielded a number of debutants, among them Will Semmens, David Newstead and Scott Smith.
Halfway through a cool day-one morning matches were evenly contested. There were some convincing leads for both sides with the rest of the field remaining very close in their matches.
Peter Chambers and Will Semmens looked to be coasting at 3 up against Peter King and Norm Way until Way started knocking in some long putts. The match went right to the last hole, where the QGU walked away with the point.
Way, although well into his 60s, has kept a handicap of five or better since 1971, and his ability to come from behind was a common thread for all the QGU golfers.
Highlights of the morning rounds for the ADFGA were Kim Johansen and Martin Evans, who won 5 and 4 against Trevor Wouti and Don Palmer; and Tony Wallace and Derek Brown, who beat Peter Roberts and Tony Dowling 2 and 1. At the end of the morning’s play, QGU led by 4 matches to 2.
The afternoon foursomes produced a change in pairings and hopes were high for a lift in fortunes.
The ADF team again looked to be holding its own against the QGU with matches following a similar pattern to the morning fourball.
But the change of fortune did not materialise and the ADFGA team lost 4.5 to 1.5.
Highlights for the ADF was Kim Johansen and David Ely beating Trevor Wouti and Don Palmer 2 and 1, and Greg Fraser and Peter Chambers taking a half against King and Way.
At the end of day one, QGU had surged to an 8.5 to 3.5 lead, which meant that the ADFGA had to produce a strong singles result to take the trophy. Day two dawned cool but clear with a forecast of a top of 25 degrees. The ADF had to finish with 8.5 of the singles games to retain the trophy.
Initial signs looked good as the ADFGA team was ahead in a large number of games. Derek Brown got the ADF of to a great start with a convincing 4 and 2 win over Ray Adams. Marty Evans’s 5 and 4 win against Peter Roberts kept the dream alive.
Unfortunately, the excitement was short lived as the ADF took only 1.5 of the 10 points on offer. Again, most of the remaining matches were extremely close with seven of the games being lost on either the 17th or 18th greens.
Highlights for the ADF singles included Derek Brown and Martin Evans, Ike Bamford who managed a 2 and 1 win over Tony Rowling, and Steve Rotherham who walked away with a half over an impressive Matt Dowling.
The presentation ceremony after lunch was presided over by BRIG Simon Gould, who played on the final day, with the QGU’s Scott Wagstaff and the ADFGA manager SQNLDR Mark Wilkins. |
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