[ERUGC President Dave Greenwood (above left) presented Matty with the silver salver with Matchplay Secretary Geoff Drewery (right)]
The final of the East Riding Union of Golf Clubs’ Match-play Championship was played at Ganton on Sunday 21st September.
The match was between Hornsea’s 33 year old Jonny Fisher-Ulliott (last year’s runner up) and 27 year old Matty Raybould also of the Hornsea Golf Club.
The early morning weather was kind with a gentle breeze and blue skies, but through the day these conditions changed from gentle to a blustery northerly wind. As the wind increased the temperature dropped making scoring relatively difficult for both players.
The opening hole was halved in regulation par fours. On the 2nd Jonny Fisher Ulliott hooked his drive into Ganton’s notorious gorse. Following a penalty drop he was unable to match Matty’s par four and so went one down. Matty’s drive on the 3rd finished just short of the 317 yard hole whilst Jonny again pulled his drive into the deep rough left of the green. Jonny managed to get his chip shot onto the green and two putt for a par, whereas Matty three putted the hole for a half. The fourth saw Matty over-club his second shot to the green and his ball finished in a bush behind the green. Having failed to get the ball out with his first attempt, he then went through the green with his fourth shot and so he conceded the hole to square the match. A three putt from Matty on the 5th saw Jonny take a one hole lead.
The game swung back to all square after the long par four 6th when Jonny three putted after leaving his first putt some 12 foot short. The first birdie of the day came on the 7th when Matty holed a twenty footer to go one up. Both players parred the 8th with fours. When both birdied the long par 5 ninth this gave Matty a 1 hole advantage after 9 holes.
The 10th saw Jonny three putt again to go 2 down. The 11th saw Matty’s first wayward drive when he found the right hand fairway bunker and he failed to find the green with his bunker shot and went on to drop a shot to Jonny’s par four and so the deficit was back to 1 hole. The next four holes were halved. On the 16th Matty hit a wayward drive into the gorse followed by shot into a green-side bunker resulting in an uncharacteristic double bogey and loss of hole. The testy long par three 17th saw both players miss the green left, Matty chipped up to about 8 foot whilst Jonny mis-judged his shot barely making the edge of the green. However Jonny managed to hole a 30 footer whilst Matty missed his 12 foot putt and so the game swung back in Jonny’s favour. The 18th saw both players get to the edge of the long green in two shots. Matty left his chip some 25 foot short whilst Jonny managed to get close enough to get his par four. When Matty missed his par putt Jonny had finished the morning round 2 up.
The opening two holes of the second round saw both players with par fours. On the 3rd hole Jonny hit a great drive just short of the green whilst Matty was in the right green-side bunker. So advantage Jonny. Unfortunately Jonny thinned his chip to the back of the green whilst Matty achieved a great sand save by splashing out and holing his eight foot putt for a birdie three. Although Jonny had the advantage following their drives on the 4th, he failed to get his wedge onto the green and consequently lost the hole to Matty’s four so bringing the game back to all square.
Holes 5 to 10 were halved with both players birdieing the 9th and bogeying the 10th. Finding the bunker on the 11th cost Jonny the hole and a poor tee shot on the 12th cost him another hole, so going 2 down. A brilliant eagle three on the par five 13th gave Matty a 3 hole lead. Roles were reversed on the 14th when Jonny eagled the short par four with an eight foot tap in. Jonny bunkered himself with his second shot to the difficult 15th so Matty’s par four was good enough to win another hole and take him to dormie 3 up. The 16th hole proved difficult for both players but when Jonny found yet another bunker green-side right, it took him two shots to get out and he conceded the hole thereby giving the match to Matty Raybould by a margin of 4&2.
Matty was presented with the Matchplay Trophy by David Greenwood, President of the East Riding Union of Golf Clubs at the after golf dinner in the Ganton Clubhouse where the Champion gave a very gracious and humble speech. A first Matchplay title for Matty to cap a stellar season in which he also lifted the ER Amateur Trophy at the KP Club.
Geoff Drewery
ERUGC Matchplay Secretary
