SUGS v LUGS Friday 4 February 2022 Muirfield 2022
Morning dawned on a cool, clear day in Gullane and all was set for the first LUGS fixture of 2022. Having been narrowly beaten at Sandwich in the rearranged 2021 fixture, optimism was high for the rematch. The warm up at North Berwick on Thursday allowed for some fine tuning and, alert to the possibilities of being ‘Holt-ed’, the young LUGS came through the pre-match dinner without significant scarring.
And so to be 3 points down at lunch was something of a disappointment! Captain John Dennis had lead from the front with a fine win paired with Sam Campbell (who wouldn’t want Sam as a partner…) against SUGS captain Stuart Farmer and SUGS singer Ewan Cameron. Beyond that though, only a half from Messrs Bull and Falconer added to our score. The shoeshine game (played, unusually, in the morning series) was barely a contest with SUGS Andrew Jessop and Anthony Shields coming close to ‘dog licencing’ ‘Porky’ Kershaw and Kaihan Mobed. Fizzing, as ever, with good team spirit, Porky claimed the defeat ‘had nothing to do with him’.
Lunch at Muirfield is hard to beat and flagging spirits were soon revived through a careful combination of gin, claret and the rarest of local beef. Being the day before the Calcutta Cup, the dining room was filled with legendary ex rugby players, many of whom had achieved glory through leading great comebacks. Might their stories of astonishing feats inspire the LUGS to a mighty turnaround in the afternoon?
No! With Kernaghan, Shields, Reid and Calder at the top of his team sheet, Captain Jessop was looking to post blue on the scoreboard early. And so it proved with some solid SUGS victories. The afternoon series ended tied 3-3, with wins for Dennis and Park (who wouldn’t want Joe as a partner….) and Kershaw and Falconer (with Porky later claiming that the win ‘had everything to do with him’).
Dinner at Luffness was marvellous starting with an excellent salmon platter before moving on to every slimmer’s dream, pheasant stuffed with haggis; delicious! We were honoured to be joined by the SUGS President, Nigel Watt, who had played in the very first fixture in 1988. There was much reflection about having been in the very same clubhouse exactly two years ago with little anticipation of what was about to happen to the world. Stuart Farmer spoke beautifully for the SUGS illustrating clearly what these days mean to all of us. Ewan then sang, Sean spoke – so very much back to normal!
A terrific day. The SUGS were, as ever, tremendous hosts with special mentions to Fraser, Andrew and Stuart for their organisation. We look forward to reciprocating at Royal St George’s in 2023.
| Morning | ||
| SUGS | LUGS | |
| Mark Kernaghan/Sandy Reid | Gorm Nielsen/Hugh Maurice | SUGS |
| Andrew Jessop/Anthony Shields | Mike Kershaw/Kaihan Mobed | SUGS |
| Simon Holt/Jonny Calder | Joe Park/Jeremy Smith | SUGS |
| Stuart Farmer/Ewan Cameron | Sam Campbell/John Dennis | LUGS |
| Iain Crawford/Mike Morrison | Nicola Taylor/Sean Dryden | SUGS |
| Gordon Simmonds/Fraser McCluskey | James Bull/Neil Falconer | Halved |
| Afternoon | ||
| Mark Kernaghan/Anthony Shields | Sean Dryden/Hugh Maurice | SUGS |
| Sandy Reid/Jonny Calder | Jeremy Smith/Sam Campbell | SUGS |
| Simon Holt/Stuart Farmer | Gorm Nielsen/James Bull | Halved |
| Ewan Cameron/Andrew Jessop | Mike Kershaw/Neil Falconer | LUGS |
| Mike Morrison/Gordon Simmonds | John Dennis/Joe Park | LUGS |
| Iain Crawford/Fraser McCluskey | Nicola Taylor/Kaihan Mobed | Halved |
| SUGS beat LUGS 7.5-4.5 |
London University Golfing Society 