CGS Retain the “Carib-Morris” Cup
The event was designed to be played in a competitive but friendly nature, the first event held last year 2008 was won by the CGS with a 5½ to 3½ victory margin. It was a very social and friendly gathering played at Widney Manor Golf Club near Solihull. It was hoped that this year’s event would provide an equally competitive prospect between the two teams with the ‘Chris Morris’ boys hoping to avenge their loss from the previous year.
The event this year took place at the West Midlands Golf Club, a very new but well developed course. The CGS players turned out in team colours – yellow polo’s with the CGS society logo all new for this match. One member of the ‘Chris Morris’ society thought we were on tour from the Caribbean and asked when we were going back.
With all the pairings sorted it was time to get down to the business of defending the ‘Carib-Morris Cup’.
The first pairing from the CGS was Eric Queely & Keith Riley up against P.Wragge and D.Bull from “Chris Morris”. Keith had wife Mary on the bag hoping to give her husband some encouragement but it wasn’t to be. Keith a member of West Midlands had been having lessons recently and said it was bad timing for him to be picked for the team. Eric Queely who plays off 6 was going to find it very difficult playing against these higher handicap golfers. Well it turned out to be a very close match with the teams running neck to neck throughout. Both Eric and Keith actually played very well but came up short with the Chris Morris boys holding out to win overall.
The next group out was CGS handicap secretary Roan Mcleod & Alan Ferguson, up against Martin Crawford & Terry Courtney from “Chris Morris”. The first hole was halved with both teams scoring a bogey 5. The second hole the “Chris Morris” boys went 1 up after Terry Courtney holed a 25 foot downhill putt after loosing his ball through the hazard and dropping under penalty. He then hit the green and holed the putt for par net-birdie, after Roan Mcleod was posed to sink his par putt but with no shot on the hole. That really summed up the match, with Terry Courtney hitting good putt after good putt and playing very well indeed. At one point the CGS pair were 5 down but pulled it back to 3 at one point, but it didn’t last long and was back to 4 shortly after. It seemed that the “Chris Morris” pairing worked well as both players were playing well. However, Alan Ferguson didn’t have a good day for CGS so it was difficult for them to put any pressure on their opponents. The match ended on the par 3, 14th, when Terry Courtney hit his tee shot within a foot of the hole. Alan Ferguson also hit a good tee shot but had to sink a 12 foot downhill breaking putt to extend the match. The putt missed and the match ended with “Chris Morris” winning 5 & 4.
That made it “Chris Morris” 2 up through the first two matches. This wasn’t going to be an easy day for the CGS. Throughout the day we were getting match reports from CGS secretary Denny Senior, who was in support via buggy accompanied by CGS member Delores Simon. They were feeding the team with bottles of water, mars bars, bananas and information from all the other matches and it wasn’t looking good.
We were loosing at least 4 of the matches, with our team finding it very difficult to compete against the high handicapped “Chris Morris” boys. Our Chairman Junior Harris and his playing partner Balbir (Billy) Banga were making mince meat of their opponents and secured the first point for the CGS. Junior Harris was mashing things up, hitting those long bombs and reaching the majority of the par 5’s in two shots, which was some feet in the windy conditions. They eventually ran out to 7 up winners.
Match four: Mickey Taylor & Ronald Ross from CGS against father and son duo, Jimmy & James Rowe from “Chris Morris”, went all the way down to the par 3 18th, the signature hole with the island green. The match was eventually halved, but it was a very tough match to play. Ronald Ross said he had to play out of his skin to compete against their opponents who both played off 28 handicaps and Mickey Taylor was jet lagged having just returned from his holiday in the US that very morning. That was a very good result and a very important one indeed when the results of the day were finally counted.
The match between Dean Leith & Keith Salmon (CGS) up against T.Danson & C.Young (CM) was an interesting match and one that would eventually decide the result of the ‘Carib-Morris Cup’. The CGS boys struggled against their opponents and were 3 down at the half way point. C.Young a 15 handicap from the “Chris Morris” team and also a member of the West Midland Club was playing very well, by all reports he was getting up and down from all over the place, chipping it close at every attempt, whilst his team mate was hitting it all over the place. The match was eventually lost and at this point the CGS were 3½ to 1½ down after 5 matches.
The match with Vassel Brown & David Simon (CGS) up against Ian Ramsey & R.Lunham (CM) was also another tough encounter for the CGS. David Simon wasn’t having one of his better days, getting very frustrated with his game, it’s a tough format playing in a team when your shots can affect your team mate. Vassel wasn’t fairing any better and the boys struggled to defeat. That’s now CGS 1½ CM 4½, not looking good for the CGS to retain the ‘Carib-Morris’ Cup. The ‘Chris Morris’ boys really came out to do us this year!
Match seven: Ian Higgins & Ken Brown (CGS) against Dave Robson & Neil Felgate (CM) went down to the final putt to decide that match. Ken & Ian were down 2 with 3 to play. This was a great match up, Ken & Ian eventually won the 16th and the 17th to tie the match going into the last. What a tough ending, having to decide the match on the island green par 3 18th. What looks like a very simple hole only 140 yards long but surrounded by water and hitting into the wind, this hole is similar to the Par 3 17th at Sawgrass in the US and was designed to give the Midlands it’s version of that world famous hole . Every one made it over the water, it was now down to a putting contest. Ian Higgins hit his first putt which was a very long one and ended up going 4 to 5 feet past the hole. Neil Felgate holed his bogey putt leaving it up to Ian to sink the winning putt which he didn’t disappoint. Match now CGS 2½ and CM 4½ with two matches remaining and by all reports we were up in one and down in the other.
The match between Don Bramble & Ansel Pottinger (CGS) against Dave Comerford & S.Carling (CM) was over by the time the players got to the 15th tee. It was another tough day for our golfers against the Chris Morris boys who were playing really well, birdying holes for net albatrosses. That’s not easy to compete against, Don Bramble just laughed when he got off the course he knew he couldn’t compete against a 28 handicap golfer birdying the long par 3 11th into the wind and still getting two shots on the hole, you know you got to play out of your skin to have any chance. The score was now CGS 2½ CM 5 ½, it looked like it was all over bar the shouting, with only one match left out.
Carl Douglas & George Oliver (CGS) pretty much rapped up their match early on and were just playing out the final holes. It was an excellent performance from the CGS boys up against Jim Allardyce & S.Parfitt from (CM). Both CGS boys played some very good golf and their pairing worked out very well, this maybe a pairing to consider for next year if both players make the team.
Well, that was it, ‘Chris Morris’ won out the match 5½ to 3½ a role reversal to the match last season. But wait a minute…hold your horses…ho-no that’s not the end of it! Well, we at the CGS make noise when it comes to handicaps and I’m sure we’re not the only society or club to have disputes surrounding this subject. Handicaps are a real pain when organizing events, you try to create an even playing field so that everyone can compete together fairly. It’s similar to the British Touring Car Championship, when a driver wins a race he’s handicapped with weights in his car to prevent him from dominating the whole weekend racing and to give the other teams a chance. Well that’s the same in golf except for the weights of course! Anyway lets get down to the nitty gritty. After some questioning of handicaps and some checking, it turned out that one of the ‘Chris Morris’ boys was playing from the wrong handicap. The handicap arrangements were decided in advance between the two captains and the decision was that if you are a member of a golf club you should play from your club handicap and if not, then from your society handicap. Well the player in question, playing in the match with CGS captain Dean Leith & Keith Salmon was playing off 15 when his club handicap was 8.
Well after the incident was discussed between the two captains, a decision was made to award the match in question to the CGS, meaning the final score was CGS 4½ and ‘Chris Morris’ 4½ so the match was halved with the CGS retaining the cup, being the current holders. The result wasn’t taken very well by some of the ‘Chris Morris’ boys whom left early. It’s a shame that one individual should cause them to loose the cup but if the situation was reversed the same outcome would be expected.
To deliberately play from the wrong handicap is tantamount to cheating plain and simple. The CGS have invested many hours in developing our handicap system to give all players in it’s membership a fair chance of winning an event and the results from our events shows that it’s working. For the ‘Carib-Morris’ Cup to develop and grow, both teams must make sure that a situations like this never happen again otherwise players will not be willing to take part if they think there will be players playing from incorrect handicaps.
This match-up between the CGS and ‘Chris Morris’ has developed into what looks like will be a very competitive annual event. It’s been well organised and if the teams can iron out any issues regarding handicaps then this can grow from strength to strength.
The Caribbean Golf Society is becoming a well established and recognised Golf Society in the West Midlands with a membership growing every year. We try to be as professional in our organisation as any Golf Club in the region.
Check out the photos from the day, which were taken by reserve player on the day Winston Clarke. Winston was all over the course taking pictures, he must have covered at least 6 miles walking and running, maybe you can chase down Usain Bolt, hmmmm….maybe not! He has taken some excellent photos which captured the mood of the day. You can see the pressure being faced by the CGS boys knowing that we were up against it.