After reversing a decade of Scottish dominance in the SUGS fixture earlier in the year, LUGS came to Sandwich hoping for a continuation of the fine form shown at Muirfield. In spite of the late withdrawal of ‘steady and straight’ Nick Page, there was a degree of anticipation that we might, with a fair wind behind us, hold all of the UGS trophies by Friday night (having also beaten the PUGS and the QUGS in our last outings). If only we could beat the DUGS…
The arrival of thirteen DUGS early on the Thursday for a warm up suggested that their captain Nicholas Dillon had other ideas in mind though. While maintaining his usual charming and debonair poise, the obligations of leadership were clearly not lost on him; there was steel in those eyes. While remaining out of sight to the LUGS, Dillon’s non playing vice captains reported statistic after statistic back to him as his team warmed up on Deal and Sandwich. Delayed by what was described as a ‘Ronan O’Gara like’ team talk and hot yoga session, the DUGS arrived firmly ‘in the zone’ for the formal dinner on the Thursday evening.
The Royal St George’s experience never fails to impress. Sitting beneath the painting of the club’s founder, the formidable William Laidlaw Purves, we recognised how privileged we were to be playing our match at this marvellous club. There were splendid sporting diversions from Mike Gibson about the rugby game and Jonathon Lavelle about the Cheltenham Festival. While Mike sounded entirely plausible, the rugby result was not what he had predicted – such is sport. Let’s see how Jonathon fares with his predictions over the jumps.
A cool but dry day followed on Friday. Though much rain had fallen at Sandwich and filled many of the bunkers to near overflowing, the greens were running firm and fast. A great credit to Greig Easton, Sandwich’s new greenkeeper.
As we neared lunch, it became apparent that all of the hard work put in by Dillon on his pairings had yielded results. Ben Pile, LUGS’ debutant, played some fine golf, but we nevertheless trailed by 4-2 after the morning’s games. Might a good lunch turn the fortunes of the LUGS around?
No – the green wall was relentless and DUGS ran out clear winners in the afternoon.
A very jolly debrief in the George & Dragon followed. DUGS match manager, John Conway, was at last able to smile, his strategy having been continually second guessed throughout the preceding month by the relentless Dillon.
Another fine match with our old friends from Trinity. The DUGS machine will take some beating next year back in Ireland – but the English rugby side’s performance on Saturday against the odds has given us a ray of hope. Well done to George Yeandle, the LUGS’ match manager for many years, for organising the match.
| Morning | |||
| LUGS | DUGS | ||
| Stuart Lloyd/Neil Falconer | Aidan Neill/Nick Dillon | Won | |
| Jon Lavelle/Mike Kershaw | Mark Murnane/JP Conway | Won | |
| Mark Conway/Kenny Johnston | Mike Gibson/Michael Fleming | Won | |
| Jeremy Smith/James Bull | Won | Roddy Conway/JS Conway | |
| George Yeandle/Ed Clutton | Dermot O’Grady/Paddy O’Sullivan | Won | |
| Ben Pile/John Sugden | Won | Barry Grundy/Andrew Bryce | |
| Morning Score: | 2 | 4 | |
| Afternoon | |||
| LUGS | DUGS | ||
| Mike Kershaw/Jeremy Smith | Halved | Mark Murnane/Aidan Neill | Halved |
| Stuart Lloyd/Ben Pile | Nick Dillon/Dermot O’Grady | Won | |
| Jon Lavelle/Neil Falconer | Andrew Brace/JS Conway | Won | |
| Mark Conway/Ed Clutton | Won | Roddy Conway/JP Conway | |
| John Sugden/James Bull | Mike Gibson/Paddy O’Sullivan | Won | |
| Kenny Johnston/George Yeandle | Won | Michael Fleming/Barry Grundy | |
| Afternoon Score: | 2.5 | 3.5 | |
| Result: DUGS win by 7.5 to 4.5 | |||
London University Golfing Society 