On a beautiful spring day at Marlborough Golf Club Ali James, the Wiltshire captain gathered a strong county team together looking for revenge in the annual pre season match against the Old Players after last years drubbing! The foursomes didn't start to well for the county team with the captain and Sam Matton going down to Old player's skipper Simon Amor and Jez Tomlinson and Matt Swales and Charlie James losing to Jamega Tour Pros Steve Surry and Martin Sell. The disappointing start was soon rectified in the final 3 matches where Loughrey + Loughrey beat veterans White and Clarke, Bauer + Cooper beat Mutch and late replacement Fry, and Ruddle + Mackman birdied the final 2 holes to beat Robertson and Harris in the battle of the Manor! to give the County team a 3-2 lead at lunchtime.
The Soup and Sandwiches at lunchtime obviously worked a treat for the county players as they came out firing on all cylinders for the afternoon singles. Skipper James led from the front with 2 eagles and 3 birdies to finish Tomlinson off on the 15th, thus extracting some sweet vengeance for the last 2 years agonising defeats! Matton reeled off 4 birdies around the turn to take control of his game and he put Sell away on the 15th. Clubmates Surry and Swales had a titanic battle, with Surry making birdies at 2 of the last 3 holes to salvage a half. Josh Loughrey, making his first appearance for the 1st Team made light work of White in an up and down game. Bauer made the score 7.5 - 2.5, using home knowledge to defeat Clarke before Fry pulled a point back by beating Cooper. That was to be the old players final joy of the day as Charlie James birdied the last to beat Mutch and Ben Loughrey took the last against Amor despite some textbook pitching from the Home Pro. Finally the 2 Broome Manor boys Mackman and Ruddle both won tightly contested games against Robertson and Harris, making the final score 11.5 - 3.5. Thanks must go to Simon Amor and Marlborough Golf Club for organising and hosting the day and to the old players for coming back and giving the county lads so much needed competitive practice before the season gets under way.   Full Results	The picture shows England "A" squad player Sam Matton at impact position with his drive at the 4th. Timing almost as good as the photographer!
Match 1st Team Points   Old Boys Points 1 Ali James/Sam Matton 0 v Jez Tomlinson/Simon Amor 1 2 Matt Swales/Charlie James 0 v Steve Surry/Martin Sell 1 3 Ben Loughrey/Josh Loughrey 1 v Ken Clarke/Richard White 0 4 Tom Ruddle/Miles Mackman 1 v Steve Robertson/Gary Harris 0 5 Andy Cooper/Dave Bauer 1 v Dan Fry/Albert Mutch 0     3     2             Match           1 Ali James 1 v Jez Tomlinson 0 2 Sam Matton 1 v Martin Sell 0 3 Matt Swales 0.5 v Steve Surry 0.5 4 Josh Loughrey 1 v Richard White 0 5 Dave Bauer 1 v Ken Clarke 0 6 Andy Cooper 0 v Dan Fry 1 7 Charlie James 1 v Albert Mutch 0 8 Ben Loughrey 1 v Simon Amor 0 9 Tom Ruddle 1 v Garry Harris 0 10 Miles Mackman 1 v Steve Robertson 0   County Team 11.5   Old Players 3.5