Last Wednesday 10 teams battled it out for The Baltic Company Cup over 18 holes on The West course at Moor Park. The day started dry, although rather grey and gloomy, but there was some impressive golf from a number of players. I think it is also fair to say the reverse was also the case, however the worsening weather no doubt played some part in that as we all got wet with the on & off rain showers during the back nine holes.

Captain’s Log (Simon Cox & Trevor Marsh) started off the day playing with the Hon Sec who ended up playing solo as sadly we lost a few players in the run up to the day. The next group was Holman Fenwick Willan A (Ian & Viktor) playing with D’Amico (Sam Round & Ed Preston), who clearly having been runner up whilst playing for PCL in 2019, were keen to impress the new team Owners with dazzling golf. Viktor holed his putt on the 4th for the only gross two of the day, whilst Sam gross parred the hardest hole on the course (7th), which was a two stroke hole thereby scoring him four points. Thorsen Shipping (Nick & Harry) were next off, playing with DryLog Trading duo of Charles & Cornelius. Nick Perry scored the only “five pointer” by holing his putt on the 3rd for a gross birdie three on a hole where he got two strokes. The euphoria of this achievement perhaps contributed to his double bogey five on the next hole! The Buggins (John Duggin & Uncle Eddie) were next up playing with the Lamberts Oldboys (Bob & Colin), with Bob smoothly into his stride birdying the 3rd with ease. The final group consisted of HFW B team (Angus & Tom) playing with the Nomikos pairing of Andy (The Undertaker) & Ralph. This soon got entertaining as Ralph managed to hit one of them with a shot of his, so everyone was very alert when Ralph was playing. Clearly Ralph could hit some good shots as he managed to par the long 14th which earned him 4 points because it was a two-stroke hole.

When the rain had finally stopped we were all in the bar trying to decipher the scores on our papier mache cards. The competition was hot and all eyes were on the HFW teams - could the manage four consecutive wins? The short answer was NO. Their A team came 5th with 60 points, which was one point less than their B team on 61. The runners up were Nomikos’s Andy & Ralph on 63 points, but the clear winners were D’Amico’s Sam Round & Ed Preston who both cored 34 points to give a winning total of 68. Well done fellas.

There were still some other important prizes to award, with Andy The Undertaker scoring the best individual stableford with 36 points (18 on each nine so unperturbed by the worsening conditions) as well as winning the nearest to the pin on the 4th. Viktor won the longest drive in the rough on the 15th. Whilst Sam launched a monster down the 16th to win the longest drive on the fairway and followed it with a close shot to the pin which he holed for birdie and a cool four points! Finally, Ian Hughes was the closest to the pin in two shots on the 18th.

A great day was had by all, hopefully we can increase the number of teams in 2023?

Ed was not able to stay for the prize giving afterwards, hence the picture of Hon Sec with just Sam. FYG he is holding the silver Baltic Company Cup, it's just that the standard cleaning clause had not been adhered to by the previous recipients….