2022

Well, what a cracking weekend we have just had. Possibly one of the best.

Firstly, moving to the summer has proved to be a roaring success. The course was fantastic and we were once again lucky with the weather. Warm, sunny but quite a stiff breeze on both days which made life interesting.

This was the 10th staging of the Holyhead Ryder Cup and, just like last year we had 32 players lined up and ready to play.

The Juniors were leading the series 5.5 points to 3.5 points and with the Seniors only winning once outright since 2016 they were keen to get a point on the board their way. To take the cup, the Seniors had to win outright as the Juniors were the current holders.

Things did not start off too well when Andreas Rheinhardt messaged in at 5am on the first day with "travel issues". Well, he didn't take his passport to the airport for his flight from Zurich into Manchester. He is blaming Brexit!!

Anyway a little rejig of the teams and the Seniors had to go out with a single player each day, but were compensated with an additional 6 shots on their handicap.

Everybody else rocked up and were ready for the 14:10 tee off.

The first day was a close affair with 7 of the 8 matches going to at least the 16th hole. Pete Hough was the single Senior put up against Robert Briggs and Matt Blake. He put up a great fight and only just lost on the 17th.

And the match standing could not have been closer with each of the teams winning 4 matches which set the scene for the next day.

Everyone, retreated to the clubhouse for dinner. Well, I say everyone - obviously our favourite German was not there and Will Fergie's efforts took their toll a little so he went for a lie down. That left a couple of dinners and puddings, but that was no problem as the Hopwoods were on hand to take care of them. That was on top of Briggsy sweet-talking his way to a massive bowl of extra chips for everyone.

Then it was back to The Anchorange Hotel in their time machines to somewhere around 1979. It was a quirky hotel, but clean and did the job and it was even ran by a modern day Basil Fawlty who appeared at check-in, on the bar, delivering towels to the rooms. He was even seen after last orders with his head on the bar in a Fawlty-esque pose as Hicko's quiz went way past last orders into the small hours. Let's just say it was a good job Andreas was not there.

Then it was up in the morning and back to the club for a decent, if a little late, breakfast ready for a fantastic day's play.

The first two matches went the way for the Seniors. Both Phil Raw and Roger Corlett recorded their second wins of the weekend. In fact, Phil Raw's wins has now won the most points in the history of the Holyhead Ryder Cup.

Andy Hickson and Pete Hough fresh from great, but losing rounds the previous day were feeling good about putting the third point up for grabs against Dan Warrington who also both had a point to prove from the previous day for the Juniors. But it was the Junior team that came out of the gates flying going 5 up after just 8 holes. The Seniors did well to quell the storm, eventually losing 15th hole.

The score was back to 6-5 in favour of the Seniors.

The next match saw Dave Haigh and Carolyn Hopwood in a tight battle with Ken (Sandy) Atkinson and Matt Blake. It went all the way to 18th where the match was all squared.

Dave Waite was up on his own against Junior captain, Nick Griffiths and Rob Briggs. Ever since Nick boasted of a 100% record a few years back he has not won a match and today suffered the ignominy of being the first player, along with his partner to lose to a single player.

So it was, now 7.5 to 5.5 to the Seniors.

Mark Liddle had a cracking weekend, winning on the first day and adding a second win to that with Al Martin over Richard Simister and Rooky Richard Dobson.

That was followed by Felix Kemp, partnered by Dan Lees getting his revenge of the previous days loss to Will Fergie who was with Clive Walker by taking the win on the 16th hole.

The scores were now delicately poised and the word had got back to the clubhouse that the Seniors were leading the final match by 1 hole as they teed off from the 18th. Some of the group went to cheer on their team mates while others wanted to leave them be and not pressure them. Either way, it was a tense wait.

With players on the green, it came down to the Rookie pair of Andy Haigh and Simon Rushton for the Seniors against Paul Godfrey and Max Fitzgerald.

Max was on the green. Godfrey had lost his ball. Andy Haigh made a hash of getting out the bunker and would probably be in Australia now if he had not stopped trying to get out.

So it was down to Simon Rushton to make 2 putts from 10 feet to win the match and take the weekend. In front of the excited audience, he succumbed to the intense pressure and missed his second putt, thereby halving the match to leave the overall score 8-8.

What drama!! See the final moments here

Winning Junior Captain, Nick Griffiths said on receiving the trophy "Thanks to the Junior team for carrying me. Commiserations to Simon - it could have been a lot worse - you could have witnessed my ‘golf’!"

Losing Senior Captain, Andy Hickson was philosophical.. "Little did I know that waking up to see the Duck's arse (Richard Simister) that that would be the highlight of my day".