East Riding’s resurgence in Foursomes continued apace with usual front runners Steve Uzzell and Jack Maxey winning 2 up. Uzzell’s length off the tee allowed Maxey to play an imperious pitch into the last which was ultimately conceded.

Debutant Stuart Easton and team regular Lewis Nicholls give the first away after driving into deep rough but their generosity ended there as they strolled to a 6 & 4 triumph with Nicholls eulogising about his partner’s performance.

Solid wins for Leigh Gawley and Steve Lynch (4 & 3) and Mark Lamb and second debutant Aaron Brettell (4 &2) gave the Union all 8 points from the first 4 matches. A position from which Teesside were not going to recover.

Steve Pybus and Rees Brown were unlucky to lose 1 down but Tommy Risker and fellow Junior Team member Jack Northgraves restored the advantage strolling to victory over the evergreen Simpson and I’ent (4 & 3)

Foursomes score: East Riding 10, Teesside 2

The early afternoon portents were not good when over half the team were losing on the course. Out front though Uzzell was always in control and eased to a 2up victory and Stuart Easton continued his morning form with a comfortable 6 & 4 win. Comeback wins for Nicholls (2 & 1), Gawley (1up) and Pybus (2 & 1) reversed the worrying trend. Down the field convincing wins for Brettell (6 & 5), Risker (6 & 5) and Northgraves (5 & 4) made the winning margin far more comfortable than the watching spectators feared.

All three debutants, Easton, Brettell and Northgraves gained maximum points and gave watching Team Manager, Andy Lockwood a selection headache for the next match against Harrogate of Alex Ferguson proportions.

Singles score: East Riding 17, Teesside 7

Match score: East Riding 27, Teesside 9

In the Player of the Year, Uzzell remains out in front with 25 points, Gawley is his closest challenger on 21 with Maxey on 20. Tied fourth on 17 are Lamb and Lynch.

My thanks go to the support team of President John Chambers, Peter Robertson and the ever present Steve Thornton.

….. and whisper it quietly East Riding are top of the table after four matches.

Jack Maxey & Steve Uzzell were in control throughout their match, winning by 5&3, whilst Andy Woodhead & Lewis Nicholls had a nervy run for home, eventually prevailing by 2&1. Leigh Gawley & Steve Lynch, having been 3 up after eight holes, were pleased to survive a York comeback and secure a half, whilst Lewis Blanchard & Rees Brown had a tight contest to take their match 1 up.

The final two matches comprised four of our Under 18s squad. Jacob Hodgson & Will Storr, both of Hull GC, had a relatively comfortable win by 4&2, whilst Tommy Risker of Scarborough South Cliff GC & George Clark, Junior Captain from Hull GC, fought back from 3 down at the turn, to win on the last.

Foursomes score: East Riding 11, York 1

Any chance of a York comeback was swiftly extinguished, as the top three singles produced wins for East Riding – Uzzell by 2&1, Maxey 2 up and Nicholls 3&2. The next four matches were shared, Gawley and Woodhead winning by 3&2 and 2&1 respectively, whilst Lynch lost by 3&1, as did Blanchard, 3&2.

Brown, marked his return to the team with a 3&2 win and the “youngsters” made their contribution with halved games for Storr and Risker, a narrow loss for Hodgson and an emphatic win for Clark by 5&4, which included five birdies on the front nine.

Singles score: East Riding 16, York 8

Overall score : East Riding 27, York 9

Team Manager, Andy Lockwood congratulated the team in the post match “huddle” and urged them to keep working on their game. The team was well supported throughout the day by the President, John Chambers and the President Elect, Peter Robertson, with parents and grandparents of some of the younger team members also in attendance.

After three rounds, the Player of the Year table is headed by Steve Uzzell on 18, followed by Jack Maxey (17), Steve Lynch (15), Leigh Gawley (13) and Mark Lamb (12)

Howard Palmer

Team Support

Universally, the players were highly complimentary about the presentation of the course by Head Greenkeeper, Colin Fairley and his team. A hard but fair test it turned out to be for Hornsea favourites Nick Raybould, his brother Matty, Leigh Gawley and Jack Maxey. Also expected to feature, defending Champion Steve Lynch from Boothferry, Ganstead Park’s Mark Lamb, 3 times Champion Fraser Kelly and Ganton’s Jamie Gregory.

A large entry from the ERUGC Junior team included Hull’s Will Storr, Jacob Hodgson and George Clark, Scarborough South Cliff’s Tommy Risker, Yorkshire U14 Boys Champion form Hessle’s Luke Thornton, Ganton’s  Yorkshire Boys Captain, Jake Sowden and Jack Northgraves, Marcus Moore, and Tom Benson from the host club. Special mention to Hornsea’s 14 year old Alfie Anderson who entered when many more illustrious players failed to make the journey north. Well done that man!

It was pleasing to see the first group complete their first round in under 3 and a quarter hours – PGA Tour please note. Half way leaders included Maxey and Nick Raybould (70), Will Storr and Jack Northgraves  (71) Tommy Risker, Aaron Brettell and Mark Lamb (73) with a further 10 players within 5 of the lead. Matty Raybould on 77 would have been delighted to replay holes 5 & 12 where the 7 dropped shots essentially cost him a tie for the lead and possibly the title. Golf is indeed a game of small margins.

Ostensibly there was all to play for in the afternoon but Maxey had other ideas. He was 4 under par through only 5 holes from where he didn’t drop a shot. He hit every green in regulation for an impressive 68, 4 under par. Closest rival Raybould got it to 3 under par through 8 but fell away to a 75. Jack Maxey was the winner of the H.W Collins Trophy and East Riding Union Amateur Champion for 2021 with an emphatic 7 shot victory.

The race for the Rob McCleish Trophy, best Junior in the field, was a much tighter affair with Northgraves, Storr, Sowden and Hodgson all in the mix. However, the morning 71 by Northgraves, on his home course, proved to be just good enough, taking the trophy with 71 + 75 = 146 and 3rd place overall.

Honourable mentions for the afternoon include Steve Lynch (70) , Matty Raybould  (71) Boothferry’s Jamie Bancroft (72) Simon Boddy (72) and 4th place overall, Rees Brown (72). Junior Captain, George Clark (73) and Lewis Nicholls (73).

Prize vouchers will be available at the next Meeting at Hull on the 8th July.

Notable Scoring:-

An 8-pointer was recorded at the 18th by our 2nd placed team

12 - 7 point scores were recorded. 

17 - 2s were recorded. 

NEXT MEETING  -  HULL GC 8TH JULY (2 tee-slots now available)

Jack Maxey & Matty Raybould was the only paring to win, having been down for most of the match, whereas Steve Uzzell & Mark Lamb had an up-and-down game, exchanging holes throughout, to secure a half.

Foursomes Score: East Riding 3, Leeds 9.

The afternoon singles began well for East Riding with an indication that the majority of matches were favouring the home team and this proved to be the case as matches finished. Despite Lewis Nicholls losing his match, the top four matches produced wins for Uzzell and Raybould plus a half from Maxey to reduce the deficit to four points.

East Riding were dominant in the middle of the order with first Leigh Gawley closing out his match 4&3, shortly followed by Steve Lynch winning 3&2. Jamie Gregory came to the last one up but found trouble off the tee and had to play sideways onto the neighbouring fairway from where he found the greenside bunker. His escape shot guaranteed a bogey and the match when his opponent missed his short put for par. This put East Riding in the lead which was, however, short-lived, as Lewis Blanchard was unable to overturn a one hole deficit.

With the scores level, attention turned to the last four matches. Will Storr, a Hull GC member and regular in the Under 18s Team, had stepped in on the morning of the match as a replacement for an injured Andy Woodhead. His local knowledge helped him secure a win by 2&1 but his fellow player from the junior ranks, Tommy Risker, lost to a final hole birdie. Scores still tied!

Dan Digby, one up through 16 was deep in the trees on the left of 17, when he produced a match-winning shot. Aiming at the adjacent 3rd green, he hooked the ball round, narrowly missing the greenside bunker to finish pin high on the 17th green, to the applause of his assembled team-mates. That win meant that East Riding could not lose and when reports came through that Mark Lamb, in the anchor role, was dormie 2 up, the fightback was complete. Lamb went on to win his match on the final green.

Singles Score: East Riding 17, Leeds 7

Overall Score: East Riding 20, Leeds 16

What a match!