Once again our annual match against Lancing was played at West Surrey, with the greens and fairways in fantastic condition, despite the long hot and dry summer conditions, which affected so many golf clubs in the UK.

As the current holders of the Lanbourne Bowl, OEGS Captain, David Burt was keen to retain the trophy and selected a group of players who knew the course well.

The first group of OEs to tee off included Iryna Photiou and Colin Farrant (plus ‘Blue’, his ever faithful wirehaired vizsla). Iryna and Colin played a steady round and came out on top, winning 3 and 1 against two experienced Lancing players, Nick Mukherjee and Simon Longfield.

The second OE pairing of Tony Dunn and David Burt, found their Lancing opponents, Ian Martin and Paul Finnett just too strong on the day and lost 3 and 1.

So the result came down to the final OE pairing of David Dunn and Mike Hutchinson against former West Surrey member, Oliver Harris, and Nigel Lloyd, both of whom had played against us in previous matches. Despite the OE pair getting off to a ‘flying’ start the match was all square at the halfway hut, with the Lancing pair dovetailing well. David and Mike, however, found themselves only needing a par and bogey to win two of the final three holes and finished  2 and 1 up.

The final result of the three matches was a win to the OEGS team 2 and 1 and we retained the trophy.

1st Group – Left to right – Colin Farrant and ‘Blue’, Simon Longfield, Iryna Photiou and Nick Mukherjee

2nd Group – Left to Right – Paul Finnett, Ian Martin, David Burt and Tony Dunn

3rd Group – Left to Right – Nigel Lloyd, Mike Hutchinson, Oliver Harris and David Dunn