The Baltic Company Cup (13 September) was a closely fought affair reports James Pendered.

Held at the iconic Shire which was re-designed by the legendary Seve Ballesteros, the course was bathed in sunshine the whole day. After a last minute withdrawal by one team, there were 18 players competing over 18 holes of stableford with the highest total combined points of each two man team being the winner. The course has six holes each of Par 5, 4 & 3’s with a fair amount of water. Typically of Seve the course offers a lot of risk and reward. This was reflected in lower scoring and perhaps more lost balls than previous years, but the competition was tight.

The Baltic had also sponsored prizes for any holes in one on four of the Par 3’s with a car up for grabs on the fourth hole. Nobody managed to win the car. However, on the nearest the pin hole we very nearly experienced an ace by Joe Nathan of L.Dens who was inches away from a hole in one, sadly instead of a car he got a sleeve of Baltic balls and a shirt!

The longest drive was won by Owen Webb of Holman Fenwick Willan B, whilst the longest drive in the rough was won by Mitsuhiro Makino of Iino. Best score by a Young Baltic Association player was Henry Smith from MOL UK with 32 points.

For the Company Cup, there were three tied for third place, namely L Dens & Furness Withy & Baltic Exchange A all on 53 total points. In second place and regretting scoring no points on the final 18th was the Baltic B of David Knights & Paul Farren on 59 points. The winners on 60 points were Holman Fenwick & Willan A team of Andrew Williams & Prahsant Kukadia: many congratulations to them for not only playing a solitary two ball at the end of the teams, but also to have stage managed such a close finish. This means HFW have won the Cup the last two times.

Thanks very much to all the players who took part, if anyone wishes to be part of next year’s Company Cup, or play in any other Baltic Golfing Society matches, please contact James Pendered (jpendered@balticexchange.com).