DUGS v LUGS Thursday 18 November 2021 Portmarnock
With Covid causing the postponement of the fixture scheduled immediately prior to the Ireland v England rugby game, the rearranged match fell neatly into the Autumn rugby series. Could the DUGS rise to the heights their rugby team had reached in beating the All Blacks last weekend?
In short, the answer was yes!
Those arriving on Wednesday for the warm up ended up playing three rounds in beautiful weather on one of the world’s finest links. Warm hospitality was, as ever, abundant in the clubhouse. But on the links it was a different story as DUGS came to lunch 4-2 ahead. An excellent brunch was washed down with a creamy Guinness or two before we headed out again at midday so as to get in before darkness. The shoeshine match was won by LUGS Wilcox and Falconer though not without some drama. Though four up with five to play, the wheels looked to be coming off as the pair headed up the last all square; happily for them, a four sufficed leaving the DUGS with the brushes and polish.
Fine speeches by captains John Conway and George Yeandle capped a magnificent day of golf. Michael Gibson gave his customary rugby analysis – though a reluctant speaker, his insights into the game always appear much more prescient than those paid to write. And Jon Lavelle generously lavished the winnings from his horse’s victory in the 1420 at Market Rasen (Shiroccan Roll, trained by Emma, Jon’s sister!) on a very drinkable case of champagne.
A marvellous day!
| Morning | ||
| DUGS | LUGS | |
| Will Kelly/Mark Murnane | Mike Robson/Stuart Lloyd | Halved |
| Fran Quilty/Tommy Bracken | Nick Page/Jon Lavelle | D 1up |
| Huntly Lauder/Barry Conway | Nick Denny/Matt Wilcox | L 1up |
| Nick Dillon/John Conway | Neil Falconer/Ed Williams | D 4/3 |
| Dermot O’Grady/Paddy O’Sullivan | Mark Conway/John Sugden | Halved |
| Michael Gibson/Barry Grundy | George Yeandle/Ger Byrne | D 2/1 |
| Afternoon | ||
| Will Kelly/Fran Quilty | Stuart Lloyd/Nick Page | D 1up |
| Mark Murnane/Barry Conway | Neil Falconer/Matt Wilcox | L 1up |
| Huntly Lauder/Nick Dillon | Nick Denny/Ed Williams | D 1up |
| Tommy Bracken/Dermot O’Grady | Jon Lavelle/Mike Robson | D 4/3 |
| Paddy O’Sullivan/Michael Gibson | Mark Conway/Ger Byrne | Halved |
| John Conway/Barry Grundy | George Yeandle/John Sugden | L 3/1 |
| DUGS beat LUGS 7.5-4.5 |
London University Golfing Society 