Seniors Match Updates

Lincs Seniors V CAGU Seniors - 27th May 2025

Indifferent weather greeted us at Blankney Golf Club to play an always strong Lincolnshire Seniors Team. Unfortunately our form in the morning matched the weather and we quickly found ourselves behind in most of the foursomes. Try as we might we ran out of holes in this sprint foursomes format and could only secure one victory that being the pairing of Craig Russell and captain Ken Parsons who were in excellent form and always kept their noses in front. 4-1 down in the EASL and 5-1 down in the EMSL we need a big afternoon!! The afternoon singles unfortunately started badly for us and it was all uphill from there. We tried to rally in the middle part of the round, but this very strong Lincolnshire side were not going to let us off the hook and we finally went down 8-2 in the EASL and 12-2 in the EMSL. Top performances from Keith Moore who got a well deserved half with Paul Wharton in a high quality game and another excellent performance from Craig Russell who secured his point on the last hole. Despite the loss and everyone being throughly socked there was no quit in the team and there were some commendable performances from Rob Lee, Andrew Compton and Alan Todd who all came into the team very late, stuck to their task and fought for every hole. Great credit goes to these three.

Suffolk Seniors V CAGU Seniors - 9th June 2025

The weather was very much different than our last away game V Lincolnshire Seniors at Blankney, with warm and sunny weather greeting us at Stowmarket Golf Club to play Suffolk Seniors in our second game of the EASL. Even though Suffolk were unbeaten his season we pushed them very hard in the morning foursomes just coming out the wrong side of some close games meaning we trailed 3-2 after all five matches had been completed. Kevin Diss and Gerald Collins couldn’t quite break through their opponents and had to settle for a honourable half, the same applied to Keith Moore and Terry Ryan who looked like they might secure a point but again were pegged back for a half. Craig Russell and Captain Ken Parsons were always ahead in their game and two superb iron shots by Craig at 8 and 9 secured the full point. The afternoon singles unfortunately fell into the pattern that we’ve seen a few too many times. Despite some really good golf we just couldn’t win a few key holes in the singles matches and f inally went down 6-4 in the 10 singles. A big highlight for us was Andrew Durman playing his first match for the CAGU Seniors secured his full point despite being one down with two to play. Terry Ryan, who was in good form all day, ran out a comfortable winner 4/3. Richard Beecroft was beneficiary of a conceded match, although at the time he was 3 up and playing really well. Our f inal point was secured by captain Ken Parsons who finished his match on the 17th to win 2/1. The final result of the match was a 9 - 6 win for Suffolk Seniors Despite this loss the team showed great spirit all day and fought really hard, things are not quite dropping into place but with the attitude the team is showing we will turn this around.

CAGU Seniors v Norfolk Seniors - 16th June 2025

On a glorious summer’s day we welcomed Norfolk seniors to Girton Golf Club to play our third match in the EASL. After putting up a brave effort against Suffolk last week at Stowmarket we were hopeful that we could get our first win of the season. The morning foursomes unfortunately followed a familiar pattern for us. Despite getting up early in a few matches we lost our way through holes 4-7 and a few of the matches turned against us. The first two matches ended up with points for Norfolk but good halves for Craig Russell and Doug Bottomley and Richard Beecroft and captain Ken Parsons restored a bit of balance, but a close defeat in the last match resulted in a 4-1 morning deficit. However, and not surprisingly from this group of players, when looking at the draw for the afternoon singles everyone still felt we had a chance to turn things around. What happened in the afternoon was something to behold. It was as if the frustration of recent times galvanised the team into some remarkable golf. Kevins Diss and Gerald Collins stormed out of the gates and secured the first two points, both winning 3/2. Terry Ryan and Keith Moore were both playing really well and keeping their heads in front in matches three and four, and the rest of the games were evenly matched. As the afternoon progressed, we fell behind in four of the last six matches, so a remarkable effort was required to turn this morning three-point deficit into a victory. We were now at the business end of proceedings, and although Norfolk still held the edge in the bottom half, Terry and Keith both held their nerve to secure their points. Suddenly, we found ourselves 5-4 in front, but two matches were heavily in Norfolk’s favour, and despite great efforts from Richard Beecroft and Andrew Durman, Norfolk secured both points, 6-5 down. Meanwhile, out on the course, both Doug Bottomley’s and Craig Russell’s matches were all square after twelve. The captain was 1 down after 13, but one of CAGU stalwarts, John Yuill, was in control of the last match. Still with a good chance of winning the match, Craig went on one of those “Craig runs” and won the next three holes to win 3/2 - match 6-6 - John Yuill then closed the door on his match on the 16th - 7-6 CAGU. Two matches left on the course, Doug all square after 17, skipper 1 down after 15, holes a 10ft downhill putt to save the halve on the 16th, just trying to stay alive. Par 3 17th, Norfolk player Jon Batten, who had been the fiercest of competitors all afternoon, found the front bunker, chance for the skipper!….the dreaded indecision between two clubs resulted in a very poor tee shot pulled left in the trees, now suddenly scrambling to keep the game and match alive. Two putt bogey, Norfolk chance to win match, missed, one down one to play. It must be mentioned that only on the walk to the eighteenth tee was the skipper even remotely aware of the score in the match, with his complete focus on just trying to stay alive, and that if he could secure a half a point and Doug get at least a halve on the last hole, we would win the match. Comforted by the fact that we had our “Mr Unflappable” Doug Bottomley playing the last the skipper felt confident that we would get a least a halve from that match and Doug obliged with a very solid last hole to secure his halve - 7 1/2 - 6 1/2 CAGU. A draw from this match would’ve still been an amazing performance from the team, but would’ve felt like a bit of a “hollow” victory as there was still a chance to win the hole and the match. Norfolk, good drive and layup to right side of the fairway, perfect for the 18th at Girton. Skipper good drive just off the fairway left hand semi, a rescue club layup the order of the day. A really nice shot hit with a bit of draw looked like a good layup, unfortunately the ball caught the wrong side of two rutts in the fairway and both propelled the ball left finishing with no clear sight of the pin. So it came down to this, Norfolk’s Jon Batten played the perfect one up one to play approach to the green coming up about 20ft short. The only thought for the skipper down the 18th was “just give yourself a chance” so despite the fact that a 129yd shot with a draw was required to get close “just give yourself a chance” was still the only thought process. To those of us who have played this game for decades, very occasionally, and I mean very occasionally, we “hit the very best shot at the very best time” this was one of those occasions, with the ball drawing around the tree to settle pin high about 12 feet from the hole. Still alive!…but job only half done, now can you follow that with a good putt! Down to this, Norfolk putting to win match….Jon’s putt came up just a little short on greens that were getting slower and slower, so this was the chance. 8-7 CAGU!! An amazing comeback from the team who showed such determination to get our first win in a while. There were many happy faces around the last green and great credit goes to the whole team. Results

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