Grafton Morrish Finals from 5-7 Oct 2018
Match report by Nick Preedy (’05)
On Friday at 9am for Round 1 we were drawn against Merchant Taylor’s who have won and been runners up in the last 8 years, so a very strong team, and experienced with the finals match play. Phil and Dave lost 2&1, Scott and George lost 2&1, and Zach and I lost 1 down, very close matches. At the turn we were up in 2 and down in 1, but the brutal into wind back 9 took its toll and we dropped a couple of shots. The weather was very pleasant, the wind got stronger as the morning went on, but generally nice golfing conditions.
The Solihull Salver began at 10am on Saturday with us playing KCS Wimbledon with Stableford scratch foursomes, all 3 to count for team score. Top 4 then qualified for Sunday’s Committee Bowl. We took on Brancaster, in what can only be described as brutal conditions. Drivers going 180 yards into the wind and over 350 yards down wind! Unbelievable conditions. I literally took my trousers off half way around and rang them out!! Despite the weather we managed, 24, 21 and 18 points which unbelievably got us 2nd position on the day, losing by 5 shots to Whitgift. The Air BNB house had clubs, clothes and everything being dried on every radiator etc known to man.
On Sunday teams competed for the Committee Bowl and we all still had wet shoes!! But clubs were dry! I can’t remember the school name for the semi-final in the morning, but we won 3-0, all matches finishing early, so a great performance, probably our best of the weekend. The final at 1pm was against KCS Wimbledon, again who have won the main GM on several occasions, so another very strong team. Phil and Dave won 1up on the last against a very strong second pair. Scott and George lost 3&2 against an extremely handy young pair who had played for Oxford University 1st team, and were under par gross through 15 holes. Zach and I really struggled to make consistent pars, so starting with 4 pars we were 4 down, very tough start. Then we battled back to 2 down at the turn, but they pushed on again and battered us 5&4 in the end. That pair claimed this was their best game all weekend, so typical we had to play them.
Runners up were presented by the committee, which was a great presentation. The Old Boys who ran and volunteered their time certainly like the Loughborough team, so the school is well liked by those who run the competition.
