​The fixtures come thick and fast as we try to cram the Autumn schedule in before the clocks change and the weather worsens.
 
Fortunately, the match against the Sugar Association at Denham was spared the worst of the aftermath of Hurricane Humberto despite heavy overnight rain. Even as we sat in the clubhouse over coffee and bacon rolls, a cloudburst broke over the course dumping half an inch of rain in just twenty minutes. Denham drains like a sieve though, so we teed off on time off two tees in a fourball better ball with just a sprinkle of a shower as we set out.
 
The morning matches were tight for a time, but eventually resulted in wins for Captain Allan Kerr and Chris Edwards over Emilio Weldon and Ian Stephenson, and for Steven Spencer and Rakesh Gupta over Barry Callingham and Howard Jenkins. Things got trickier in the other matches with David Farrar and Seamus O’Connell scraping a half with Alex Homer and Francesco Vincenzini while James Taylor and Dr Colin Griffiths went down 4 and 3 to Harry Harland and Cato Davis.
 
At lunch – and what a lunch! The writer saw at least half the company go back for surreptitious second helpings – the LMEGA led by 2 ½ to 1 ½
 
The afternoon format was greensomes and again started out in a sharp shower. The opening match saw the Captain and Rakesh Gupta halve with Ian and Francesco while Chris Edwards (the only LMEGA member to score two points) and James Taylor recorded a handsome 4 and 3 win over Barry Callingham and Harry Harland. The LMEGA now led by 4 to 2. All was not well in the last two pairs, however. David Farrar and Colin Griffiths fell at the 16th by 3 and 2 to Emilio Weldon and Howard Jenkins and Steven Spencer and Seamus O’Connell went to the 18th green before succumbing 2 down to Alex Homer and Cato Davis, who drove several times more than 300 yards including driving the blind 17th green over the trees.
 
All’s well that ends well, though, as the LMEGA retained the Commodity Cup with the final scores 4 all.

Eleven Past Captains presented themselves at Seaford on 18th September for this entirely self-funded competition. Clem Danin (1989), David Hardy (2005), Alex Heath (1996), David Littlestone (2007), Martin Prevezer (1988), Jan Rommer (1992), Bill Smit (2006), Steven Spencer (2004), Bob Stevens (1997), Brian Woodbridge (2011) and this year’s Captain, Allan Kerr.
 
The afternoon round on 18th September, with the Seaford course basking in glorious late summer sunshine, resulted in a wide range of scores with the leaders on the day being Bob Stevens, Jan Rommer, David Hardy, Brian Woodbridge, Bill Smit and way out in front with a six point lead, Allan Kerr, who suffered a two stroke reduction for the next day.
 
A splendid five course dinner, a peaceful night in the clubhouse and a hearty breakfast saw ten of the players back out on the course refreshed and determined – some to make up for their previous day’s scores and a few with an outside chance of overhauling the overnight leader.
 
The Captain proved a redoubtable adversary and only Bill Smit looked in with a chance of catching him as the sun continued to beat down and a lone Spitfire soared above the white cliffs as the Newhaven to Dieppe ferry steamed across the Channel.  One by one the contenders faded away as Martin Prevezer, David Littlestone and Alex Heath came in without competitive scores, closely followed by Steven Spencer, Bob Stevens and Brian Woodbridge who likewise failed to make up sufficient points.
 
The last fourball saw David Hardy and Jan Rommer produce nothing to compete with the leaders, the Captain and Bill Smit who mounted a late charge. With seven points to make up on the overnight leader, Bill pipped the Captain at the post to steal a well-deserved win, the Captain sadly unable to overcome the two shot handicap reduction. ​

​The weather at Walton Heath proved unseasonably cold, with scudding drizzle, the odd shower and a stiff breeze, which seemed always to be in one’s face. In addition, the greens were fast but true and the fairways were hard, allowing the ball to run, which made it difficult to avoid the myriad bunkers lying in wait for drives and approach shots. Not for nothing did Walton Heath host the Ryder Cup in 1981 and the British Masters recently.

​Third place in the morning singles went to Adam Sussmes (AMT) with 34 points, just two behind the redoubtable Rob Draisey, but the winner with 37 points was Tanya Epshteyn (SocGen), who takes the Gold Cup and who also won the prize for Nearest the Pin. The prize for Longest Drive was won by the Captain.

​The Aggregate Cup, the combined scores for the Spring and Autumn Meetings was won by Steven Smith (AMT) with 72 points and the Johnson Pot for 16+ handicaps went to Tanya Epshteyn.

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​​The afternoon competition was played over twelve holes of the New Course in teams of four with the best three scores to count. The runners up on a count back were Steven Spencer, The Captain, Jan Rommer and Rob Draisey with 76 points from Alex Heath, Edward Sawbridge, Peter Watkins and Brian Woodbridge but the winners by pone point on 77 were Yang Liu (LME), Rebecca Liang (BH Resources), Neil Poulter (Ocean Partners) and guest Tom Richardson