Sidmouth seniors managed to conquer their visitors from Bigbury last Thursday by four matches to two, writes Charles Oram.

The contest was closer than the score line might suggest, however. Both the first and last Sidmouth pairings wobbled on the cliff-edge of defeat before scrambling to safety.

Perhaps it was the shower of rain early in their round that doused the fire of Doug Goodall and Charles Brown, who led off for the home side; for they were four down after eight holes. However, they gradually reduced the deficit, to achieve a draw by winning the final hole, where the fiendish pin placement confounded their opponents.

At the other end of the field, Terry Blackler and Charles Oram feared that a heavy defeat was in prospect, as they reached the turn three holes down. To add to their gloom, Blackler’s next shot from the tee came to rest in a divot.

However, he carries a ‘winkle-picker’ iron specially for such eventualities, and his second shot ended six inches from the pin. The resulting birdie began a fight back that left the match all square.

One of the opponents of Bob Winstone and Colston Herbert was called Graham Mulligan. A ‘Mulligan’ is a free stroke granted by a generous player to an adversary who has duffed his original shot!

However, the home pairing were not in a generous mood and recorded a win by two-and-one.

Paul Blay is establishing a reputation as a fearsome match play golfer and was undefeated in his seven previous outings for the senior side. His good run of form continued on Thursday, as he and John Townsend overwhelmed their opponents by seven-and-six.

Terry Carter and Derek Geear were also decisive winners (by six-and-five), with Carter landing his tee shot a couple of feet from the flag on the 12th hole, to win the nearest-the-pin prize

Peter Emery and John Bainbridge could have done with some Mulligans as they went down four-and-three, but at least two Bigbury players went home happy!