Volvo Matchplay - Stalled Engine

Thursday (June 23rd) saw my regular partner and fellow Royal Ascot member Mike Stannard and I play our first round match in the Volvo Matchplay. This is a nationwide knockout matchplay competition with the early heats being regionalised and Grand Final being held in Portugal. We'd secured our place as invitees through Golf Monthly magazine who had kindly been offered six free places in the competition by Volvo the tournament sponsor and so we had the added pressure of upholding the honour of the GM Forum which had already been vocal in their support.

We had a home draw against two members of nearby Mill Ride Golf Club, John Ellis playing off a 23 handicap and Keith Loader off 7. Our spy in the camp had already told us that Keith was exceptionally steady and that when John was on, he could be very hard to handle. That said, Mike is usually a pretty solid partner and I tend to loiter with intent and come in as and when needed. We are a pretty tough nut to crack.



Mike and Keith traded early blows by hitting the tough opening par 3 and making solid par. I joined the action on the second where my approach to the green was luscious and all over the flag stopping about ten feet away. Keith had a long putt from the back of the green which he left about five feet short. My birdie putt shaved the edge and Keith tidied up. All square.



Team Golf Monthly were taking a novel approach to better ball matchplay. Instead of both trying to compete on the same hole it seemed that Mike and I would find trouble on alternative holes. He secured another half at the third when my drive found the rubbish and I reciprocated on the fourth when he missed the green. We finally took a lead on the fifth although it was a case of Mike being last man standing as the rest of us all had issues at some point down the long par 5.



We extended our lead again at the eighth when Mike made a tricky six footer for par but it was short lived. The ninth was playing into a stiff breeze. I had found the long rough off the tee and could only hack it out and Mike had caught a bad lie in the semi rough. Keith had found the fairway but was still two hundred yards from the green but hit a fantastic wood to find the putting surface. Neither Mike or I had any reply and so we led one up at the turn.



Things were looking positive when we won the tenth to restore the two hole cushion courtesy of pars from both Mike and I. Both John and I weren't playing our best golf but Mike and Keith were going toe to toe and exchanging pars on every hole. Even when I did hit some decent shots it seemed like Mike had already got the half and I couldn't quite find anything to kick start my back nine or to help extend our lead. The clearest example of this was the par five fifteenth. Having found the green in regulation, I hit an excellent birdie putt from sixteen feet and it was tracking the hole all the way until it reached the cup. Clearly my Titleist ball had a fear of the dark as it took a long hard look at the inside of the hole and decided it didn't like it in there and found a way to edge past.



Mike did sterling work to make yet another clutch putt at the sixteenth to leave us dormie two up. When Keith missed the green left at the 218 yard par three into the greenside bunker it seemed that a four may be good enough. Both Mike and I missed the green right. My partner hit a rare bad shot but I found the green some eight feet away with an uphill putt. Keith came out of the sand but only managed to get it to within twelve feet and faced a quick downhill putt. It was a must make to save the game. There is an old adage about never assuming your opponent will miss in matchplay but I had to be honest and say part of me had a warm feeling inside about the state of play. That lasted the four or five seconds it took his ball to leave the putter head and drop in the hole. I now had to make my putt which suddenly looked a lot longer. I hit it where I wanted and it ended up behind the hole. I'm still not sure how it could get there without dropping but it was back to one up and one to play.



Surely a par at the last would be enough. Keith and John had the honour and both got the ball away. John was short and right but was receiving a shot. Keith unloaded a great drive. Mike hit another fairway and I pushed my wood right into the right hand rough. Mike and John both played up. Mike found the fairway but Keith tugged his second left into the edge of the heavy rough. I was blocked out and could only progress my ball to the two hundred yard marker. Sadly John hit a poor shot and went to out of bounds and so was effectively out of the hole. It did cross my mind to take the green on and flirt with the pond on the right edge of the putting surface but common sense prevailed. It was a mile out and playing straight into the breeze. I laid up to 114 yards and hoped to get up and down.



Keith came out of the rough but only found the front edge of the green. I hit a nine iron in and it looked great. It was all over the flag and stopped seven feet away. Wedge play is probably Mike's strongest suit and so I was looking for him to get his close. Whether it was tiredness through carrying me for so long or just a bad swing but he put his approach through the back. We had drawn a small gallery from the bar to watch the closing act. Keith left his first putt a good three feet short. Mike chipped to about four feet. My putt was sidehill breaking left to right but not overly fast. I hit it where I aimed but it didn't keep its head high enough and dived across the jaws of the hole. Mike had a putt to win. He hit it perfectly but it hit the cup, rolled around the edge and was spat back out. I'm still not sure how it didn't fall. That left Keith with a putt to take it to extra time and he duly made it.



Sometimes in matchplay you get a feeling you have a chance on some holes. Today, Keith had been in awesome form and we never really looked like being gifted anything. It was par, par, par golf throughout. It was back to the 229 yard par 3 first. John hit a horror but Keith hit a decent shot which found the fringe on the front right hand side although the flag was back left and so faced a long second. Mike hit his tee shot well but pushed it a hair and found the right hand bunker. No pressure on me then! Fortunately I managed to find the same right hand fringe as Keith but slightly further away.



Mike hit a truly awful bunker shot, semi-shanking it so it was now a straight head to head. Keith versus me. I putted first and although the ball never scared the hole I cosied it up some three feet away. I think we all thought it would be a half in three and off to the 20th. Unfortunately nobody told Keith the script. From all of twenty five feet away he putted from the fringe. Even with the flag still in the hole the ball was dead centre and dropped for a most unlikely birdie and the win. It was the first and only time Jon and Keith had been ahead all day.



I felt really sorry for my partner who shot under his handicap and still came out on the losing side. However, taking away the two holes he lost a ball on, Keith had played the other seventeen in level par and had played the last five (including the extra hole) in one under gross. There is steady and "steady". Fair play to the guys who were brilliant company to play with and good luck to them in the next round. However I can't help feeling we were mugged somewhere down the stretch. Golf is always a game of ifs and maybes but there were several putts from both Mike and I that may have dropped on another day and would have been the difference. That's golf, but make no mistake we will definitely be back next year and looking to progress.