​Porters Park was in great condition on Wednesday. After the fog lifted we had a dry day and pretty firm fairways and the morning fourballs kicked off with your Hon Sec and Ashok Singhania playing two of the longest hitters in the sugar team, Emilio Weldon and Richard Howes. However, the youngsters couldn’t quite edge it and the LMEGA won that fourball 1 up, even after Emilio’s eagle putt of 50 feet had trumped Steven Spencer’s birdie at the par five 10th.
 
The second fourball was a really tight match with Richie O’Neill and Steven Smith playing Ben Cawdron and George Barker ending in a half. The third match featured James Proudlock and Derek Raphael who didn’t fare quite as well, going down 4 and 3 to Howard Jenkins and Hugh Cronaker, so as the last of the fourballs was coming in the scores were level. However, Dr Colin Griffiths and John Ambery brought off a tight victory against Neill Beaumont and Richard O’Connor to leave the LMEGA ahead 2 ½ to 1 ½ at lunch.
 
The scheduled 15-hole afternoon foursomes had to be changed to a 9-hole fourball better ball because the club inadvertently let some fourballs go out ahead of the match. The first LMEGA pairing of your Hon Sec with Derek Raphael beat Ben Cawdron and Richard O’Connor 2 and 1 but Richie O’Neill and Colin Griffiths succumbed 1 down to George Baker and Howard Jenkins, leaving the match at 3 ½ to 2 ½ at the halfway stage.
 
It was Ashok Singhania, captain for the day, playing with James Proudlock who made the match safe with a win 1 up against Neill Beaumont and Richard Howes before the icing on the cake came with a 3 up victory by Steven Smith and John Ambery over Emilio Weldon and Hugh Cronaker.

This year's Past Captains was played at Seaford, where we had a truly wonderful reception over two days, a stunning course with magnificent views over the Channel and luckily very good weather.

Eight captains competed for the trophy, Jan Rommer, Alex Heath, Bill Smit, David Hardy, David Littlestone back from Spain, Steven Spencer, Clem Danin and this year's Captain, Yang Liu. Colin Griffith joined the party for the first day.

The Competition was played over two rounds, the first being the afternoon of our arrival. The outright leader at the close of Day One was the redoubtable Jan Rommer, who played off 10 and posted 32 points in blustery winds of up to 30 mph. Pushing him close were Alex Heath, playing off 12, Captain Yang Liu off 22 and Bill Smit off 12, all scoring 31. Summer Tour rules applied and the leader, Jan, was duly cut to 8, losing two shots, with the runners-up all cut by one shot. 

The accommodation was excellent, the bar comfortable and well stocked and the club served an outstanding five course dinner, as a result of which we will be returning to Seaford next year. As always with new and old Captains together, the nostalgia flowed in torrents almost as great as the wine and late into the evening. 

Day Two dawned bright, fair and sunny with the wind dropping to a strong breeze. As usual, the lowest four Stableford scorers went out first and the leader in the clubhouse was briefly David Hardy before the leading group came in. Alex was unable to repeat his Day One performance, but Bill scored 33, to post a total of 64, pipping Jan on 62 points. However, the outright winner was the Captain who added 35 to her overnight score of 31 to take the cup by two points.

We do hope more Captains will join the party next year.

​The Autumn Meeting returned to Sandy Lodge this year, where someone seemed to have lost the keys to the mower shed – or, as one wit offered, the strimmer shed. The rough was wet, clingy, long and punishing, with a high probability of losing a ball only a few feet off the fairway. The greens were very true and fairly quick but overnight rain had made the bunkers hard and the fairways soft.
 
However, one player found no problems at all and walked away with the Gold Cup with a score of 41, playing off 6. Yes, Chris Jones triumphed on just his second outing this year and as the first was Captains Day/Spring Meeting, where he returned 34 points, he also took the Aggregate Cup with a total of 75.
 
Runner up was Edward Sawbridge with 36 points, with Captain Yang Liu coming in third with 35 and the average score for the day was 29.63. The guest prize was taken by Richard Pelly of Foxhills on a countback from Paul Jupp.
 
The Captain won the longest drive competition and David Hardy was nearest the pin.
 
The Johnson Pot – for over 16 handicap – was taken by Edward Sawbridge (17).
 
After an excellent but enormous lunch, the afternoon greensomes over 11 holes produced a lot of scores in the low 20s, but the runaway winners were Paul Jupp (Guest) and Steven Smith (AMT) with 27 points from Edward Sawbridge and Allan Kerr second with 23 on a countback from Ashok Singhania (Simportex) and John Ambery.