All Ireland Mixed Foursomes V Swords Open
Sutton’s campaign in the All Ireland Mixed Foursomes got off to a fast start in our first round match against Swords Open GC last Sunday. This was our second time facing Swords in the space of a week and thankfully, following our Jimmy Bruen triumph the previous Sunday, our second win against these doughty opponents.
In action for SGC and playing at home were Shane McGlynn with Gail MacDermott and Paddy Lennon with Nicola Hunter, while the away pairings were Ben Logan with Captain Karen Keogh and Luke O’Reilly with Mixed Foursomes debutante Kate Moran.
Things looked good from the start of this match and at the turn SGC were ahead in all four matches. Things continued in that vein at Sutton and Paddy and Nicola, playing very solid golf, didn’t give their opponents a look in and ran out comfortable 5&4 winners, while following a minor blip Shane and Gail finished strongly to win their match 2&1. All thoughtsof a comfortable afternoon went out the window though as matters progressed at Swords. In the first match Ben and Karen’s opponents turned things around, started hitting greens and holing putts, and won a number of holes in a row – recovering from well behind to take the lead after 16. Our intrepid pairing made a solid par at 17 so they headed to the tricky 18th all square. Meanwhile in the second match Luke and Kate, having got to 2up with 3 to play through a combination of good golf and miracle shots, found themselves also pegged back to all square playing the last. So with both matches simultaneously on the 18 th hole, SGC needed a half a point from one of them to progress, or else we would have had a playoff back at Sutton to break the tie.
The Swords pairing in the first match made a miracle par at the last having missed the green wide on the right on two, and that was good enough for them to pip Ben and Karen at the post. So with SGC’s home playoff pairing putting their drinking on hold and starting to think about doing some stretching, and live commentary from Swords being relayed back to base via WhatsApp, all the attention shifted to Luke and Kate. Our pairing were well up to the task – Kate hit a massive drive down the 18th fairway and, with the Swords pairing in trouble in the rough in two, Luke stepped up to put a smooth wedge into the middle of the green. A few minutes and a couple of putts later hands were being shaken and the match was over.
A great win for Sutton, which was celebrated in the time-honoured SGC tradition.
The team progresses to the next round, which will be another tough, long-distance assignment against Headfort GC, on Bank Holiday Monday June 2 nd . All support will, as ever, be much appreciated both home and away.
