After an approximate 15 year hiatus, Watt Cup finally returned to Masterton Golf Club on Sunday, February 12, 2023! Not only was this the team’s first match but we had the privilege of hosting the other five teams in the grade for this opening fixture.
The team for this match consisted of Jamie Frew (Captain), Luke Lange, Oliver Vincent and Patrick Wellbrock. All four players were keen to do their best to produce a result for the club in this junior format and are appreciative of the support from Rothbury Insurance.
Oliver and Patrick led the team out in the first pairing with Oliver establishing an early lead and Patrick falling a couple behind his opponent through the first four holes. Oliver kept the foot down to grow his lead to four up at the turn while Patrick prevented further damage, keeping the deficit to just two as they began the back nine. A four up lead in the four ball at the same point had the pair in a strong position to bank the point for this match.
Oliver was ultimately too strong for his opponent, finishing his singles match on the 13th green with a 7/5 win. It took a little longer to secure the four ball but a 4/3 win was a solid result to add another point to the team tally.
An unfortunate error on the 14th tee led to a loss of hole and Patrick was now four down with four to play. From here, it was great to see his fighting spirit and with Oliver supporting him, he was able to string back-to-back wins together through holes 15 and 16. He came so close to adding another on the 17th but his opponent showed great composure to make a good par putt to halve the hole and win the match 2/1. Securing two of the three points on offer for this pairing was a great start to the season nonetheless.
Jamie and Luke followed and were quickly on the back foot, losing their first three holes in the four ball format as Luke’s singles opponent opened with two birdies and a par. With the Club Captain now watching, both players won the fourth hole to get things back on track. With Jamie making birdies on holes 4, 5 and 6, he quickly built a four up lead in his singles match and the four ball was now back to square. Luke was now just two down but he was unable to cut into that deficit until he reached the 11th hole.
With a long birdie putt dropping for Jamie’s opponent on the 8th and a couple of unforced errors of his own on the 10th, his lead had been reduced to three up. Luke would be the only player in the group to par the 11th hole, thanks to a great tee shot, so he was now just one down as he confidently strode to the 12th tee.
Jamie completed his singles match on the 14th green with a 5/4 win and he and Luke had combined to hold a one up lead in the four ball at the same point. Luke was still two down but a singles win on the 16th for him reduced the deficit to one. Unfortunately, a birdie from the other BFHGC player on the same hole reduced their four ball lead to just one as well.
A brilliant Luke Lange “chip-in” on the 17th completed a 2/1 four ball win and meant Luke went to the 18th all square in his singles match. Unfortunately a par from Luke on the last hole was not enough. His opponent made birdie to win the match one up. Once again though, it was so good to see Luke stay in the fight right to the last hole despite being behind for the first 16 holes. Love the attitude!
There was some impressive golf displayed throughout the day from both teams. With the boys playing off the blue tees there were still roughly 14 birdies made between them throughout the match!
The final result was a 4 to 2 win for the team which currently has them sitting in second place behind defending champions, Paraparumu. A positive start lads! Looking forward to the rest of the season which continues next Sunday against Paraparaumu at BFHGC.
Thanks to Jason Lange for sharing the “management duties” and to Sam Forrester for all of his hard work coordinating the hosting of this fixture.
Nathan Frew, Manager