Covid having intervened to prevent us playing the QUGS in April 2020, travel restrictions then prevented the QUGS from coming to Kent for the rescheduled game in October. Instead, we assembled an international side to play the LUGS at Sandwich on 25 October 2021. The national press would have written it up as follows:
FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES; 25 OCTOBER 2020
The early morning mist burnt off quickly to provide a glorious day for the LUGS to play the Internationals at Sandwich last Friday. A glass was raised to the absent QUGS, thwarted for the second time this year from coming to Kent by Covid rules. In their place, a side combining the talents of the DUGS, SUGS and other illustrious institutions was assembled. Much like the British and Irish Lions, they looked very strong individually; but, having been assembled so quickly and with little opportunity for ‘team bonding’, would they be able to cope with a LUGS side that had spent lockdown preparing for the day?
Captain Grundy answered that question with a resounding ‘yes!’ as the Internationals came in at three all for lunch. And they’d left points on the table, he asserted. Had Fleming and Coghlan not been wrong footed by Lavelle’s lobster themed trousers, they surely wouldn’t have allowed Maurice to build such an unassailable lead. Grundy himself felt that he and the dashing Ward would soon have their revenge on the Yeandle/Wells combination who were bound to get side-tracked by the claret. SUG Forster meanwhile, playing on his own, recorded aggregate rounds of under 140 in defeating LUGS wunderkinder, Dryden and Faganelli, twice. ‘I had more trouble with my kipper this morning than with those two lads,’ commented Forster as he headed off to his Masters preparation.
Falconer and Conway, driving together, watched in awe as their partners, Lloyd and Butcher, consistently outdrove them with their hickory clubs. With mashies and niblicks soaring against Pings and lob wedges all day, nothing could separate them and the referee had to step in at the end of the 15th round and declare honours even. Gibson and Conway resumed a successful partnership with a win in the country in the morning; so it was something of feather in the cap for Scott and Mobed to turn things around in the afternoon. The top match was very closely contested too; Berryman and Holt, having snatched a late half in the morning, built on that momentum, edging ahead after lunch.
As daylight faded, the teams assembled (in a socially distanced manner) on the terrace for parting beverages. While LUGS may have edged the day, the truth was that everyone had won. Much golf has been cancelled this year and, if it ever needed reaffirming, everybody left enthusiastic to resume DUGS, SUGS, QUGS and LUGS fixtures as soon as restrictions were lifted. To paraphrase that wisest of DUGS, Gavin Caldwell, everyone had played his unwitting part in ‘uniting sportsmen who were really only looking for a bit of fun, camaraderie and a modicum of competition’.
Morning Matches
| LUGS | Internationals | |||
| 0930 | Nick Holt Andrew Berryman | 1/2 | Nick Dillon Jeremy Smith | 1/2 |
| 0938 | Jonathon Lavelle Hugh Maurice | W | Mike Fleming Darragh Coghlan | |
| 0946 | Alastair Wells George Yeandle | W | Joe Ward Barry Grundy | |
| 0954 | Kaihan Mobed Henry Scott | Michael Gibson Roddy Conway | W | |
| 1002 | Sean Dryden Leo Faganelli | Gordon Forster | W | |
| 1010 | Stuart Lloyd Neil Falconer | 1/2 | Jeff Butcher Mark Conway | 1/2 |
| 3 | 3 |
Afternoon Matches
| LUGS | Internationals | |||
| 1420 | Nick Holt Andrew Berryman | W | Nick Dillon Jeremy Smith | |
| 1428 | Jonathon Lavelle Hugh Maurice | Mike Fleming Darragh Coghlan | W | |
| 1436 | Alastair Wells George Yeandle | W | Joe Ward Barry Grundy | |
| 1444 | Kaihan Mobed Henry Scott | W | Michael Gibson Roddy Conway | |
| 1452 | Sean Dryden Leo Faganelli | Gordon Forster | W | |
| 1500 | Stuart Lloyd Neil Falconer | 1/2 | Jeff Butcher Mark Conway | 1/2 |
| 3 1/2 | 2 1/2 |
LUGS wins by 6 ½ to 5 ½
London University Golfing Society 