Another very well-balanced competition at the Principals versus Brokers match was held again at the excellent venue of Royal Wimbledon golf course. This year we had only 16 players but it included quite a few new players, which is always very welcome and encouraging for future matches. The format was 4 ball better ball and the day started with some cheeky, light banter from the course starter early in the morning. The weather conditions could not have been more varied, spanning pouring rain to hot sticky sunshine. Despite the challenging and ever changing conditions there was some quality golf from a number of the players, notably James Cox, Mark Ravenscroft,  Allan Kent-Lemon, Chris Symes and Fergus Duncan, who ended up winning both the longest drive and closest to the pin! Clearly a man in full control of his game.

As the matches came off the course the picture resembled the famous swingometer on election day!  The opening match was won by James Cox & Fergus Duncan putting the Brokers ahead by 1-0. Then the Principals team of Mark Ravenscroft & the Principals’ skipper Tony McDonnell came off the final hole 1 up, which levelled the score at 1-1. Consolidating the Principals position, Jamie Miller & Mark Hubbard edged the Principals ahead 2-1 by winning the third match. This meant the overall result hinged on the fourth & final game with the Brokers’ skipper Max Bonavia needing to step up to the plate (with some help from Carl Frederick Malo). Whether they were aware of the importance of the match, the Brokers showed incredible composure under pressure and nonchalantly managed to win that match and therefore, like the recent Ashes, it ended up an honourable half with an overall 2-2 score.

Well done to all the both team captains and all the players. It was a great day’s golf and thanks to Royal Wimbledon for providing such an excellent course and lunch. We are working on a suitable date for next year, likely at the same venue, so it would be great if we could attract more Principals for this match in order to keep growing the potential pool of players.

The BEGS website has the current list up upcoming matches and meetings. Anybody interested in playing in a specific match or meeting, please go to the website and via the Events page, scroll to the relevant event, open the page and you should see a REGISTER button.