​                      “Oh I do like to be beside the seaside”
                                          Cartoon by Clem Danin

​​Thirteen Past Captains turned out at a very windy Seaford GC on Wednesday 23rd September and after a bar lunch set out in extremely breezy but dry conditions with the forecast being for a few showers in the afternoon.
 
An enormous black and purple cloud did not look like the forerunner of a few showers, nor was it. It was in fact all the showers rolled into one cloudburst that lasted the best part of 15 holes. Seaford drains so well, however, that everyone completed their rounds on good fairways and beautifully true paced greens.
 
The wind gusted up to 40mph with a steady 25mph governing the afternoon making even standing still to putt a challenge. It was not surprising, therefore, to see scores averaging around 26 points with Bill Smit (2006), last year’s winner coming in alongside Ian Taylor (2009) with 31, being the leaders of the pack. The pack, however, was somewhat outdistanced by the 2019 Captain, Allan Kerr (2019), who waltzed in with 40 points thanks to some outstanding putting - no luck involved – with 21 points on the front nine and ten points in the first four holes of the back nine, to the amazement of his playing partners.
 
The club produced an excellent dinner and after a tribute by the President, Martin Prevezer (1988) glasses were raised to Derek Raphael (2008) who died recently.
 
The following morning dawned blustery with heavy rain and more forecast so the competition was abandoned and Allan takes home the Past Captain’s claret jug.

​The Past Captains' Competition is entirely self funded and takes no subsidy from LMEGA funds

The 13th hole. A 162 yard par 3 surrounded by bunkers on which Ben Horton had a birdie two to follow his eagle three at the 471 yard 12th.

A gripping encounter took place at Worplesdon in glorious early autumn golfing weather.

Worplesdon being a two ball course on Thursday mornings, the teams fought out a set of foursomes in the morning, the format perhaps not suiting the Sugar team as the LMEGA won the morning 3-1. Alex Heath and Brian Collins won 1 up, Steven Spencer and James Proudlock won 2 and 1 and Allan Kerr and David Farrar won 4 and 3. Only Dr Colin Griffiths and Seamus O'Connell went down and by 6 and 5 to a pair led by Ben Horton of Stonex, which should have sounded a warning bell. Ben is off scratch and had contemplated turning professional.

The afternoon singles were a nail biting affair. Alex heath went down 4 and 3 to Barry Cunninham but James Proudlock beat Des Monteith 1 up. Then two swift reverses came with David Farrar beaten 4 and 3 and Steven Spencer, tackling Ben Horton who shot a gross 66 including 4 birdies and an eagle 3 losing by 4 and 3. The scores were now level.

Seamus O'Connell then beat Howard Jenkins 4 and 3 but Brian Collins was beaten by the same score. All was hanging on the last two matches.

Dr Colin Griffiths managed to halve his match and then last year's Captain Allan Kerr scraped a vital point with a win by one hole to seal a narrow victory for the LMEGA.

In honour of the late John Paine, whose inspiration created this fixture back in 2004 over an extended lunch (what else) at the Hyde Park Hotel, it was decided to create a new trophy to replace the Commodity Cup to be called the John Paine Trophy. This will be played for at Worplesdon in September next year.

Captain’s Day and Spring Meeting at Walton Heath – 4th September 2020
AT LAST!
​The LMEGA season got of to a very much delayed start at Walton Heath on Friday with the combined Captain’s Day and Spring Meeting competition. This is only the second time that a Captain has served two terms and we thank Jan Rommer for stepping in to fill the gap when Martin Abbott was forced to delay his captaincy for a year.
 
In good golfing weather on the Old Course but, on fairways that were being scarified and with fast greens, scoring was not easy. With carries over heather of up to 170 yards and with heather intruding into the fairways in and around a profusion of bunkers there was a premium on long and accurate driving and on approaches to well guarded greens. Not for nothing is Walton Heath an Open qualifier and host to the Ryder Cup in past years.
 
RIP Derek Raphael
Before the prizegiving a minute’s silence was held for Derek Raphael who died last week and Past Captain Allan Kerr gave a eulogy. Derek is seen here second from the left in a photograph taken on a Summer Tour to France in 2011.

From left to right: Alex Heath, Derek Raphael, David Hardy, Martin Prevezer, Brian Woodbridge, Frits Beek, Seamus O'Connell, Michael Farmer, Steven Spencer​

The results:
The Silver Challenge Trophy dating back to 1905 and which can be seen in the cabinet in the LME gallery, was won by Jack Burns of Stonex at his first attempt with a score of 38 points. ​

​As a result, Jack also wins the Scratch Competition for handicaps of 12 and under, and the Carr Sargant for Category 1 and 2 companies. Jack now takes a two shot cut to his handicap for next year’s competition. The runner up was the LME’s Yang Liu, a past Captain, who also takes the Director’s Cup and the Captains’ Cup.
 
The King Cup for the best 24+ handicap goes to Ashok Singhania.

​Yang was also presented belatedly with the Knockout Cup which she won in 2019 but which presentation was delayed by the Covid crisis. Rob Draisey took third place with 34 points on a countback over holes 10-18.

The afternoon competition was played as foursomes over 12 holes of the New Course. Category 1 and 2 companies played for the Charles Davis Salver which was won by Jack Burns and Malcolm Leonard for Stonex with 21 points, beating Alex Heath and Steven Spencer for Lonconex into second place. The remainder of the party played a foursomes competition which was won by John Ambery (ex PWC) and Rakesh Gupta (BNP Paribas) with 26 points. The runner up was Bill Green playing as a single as injury prevented his partner David Hardy from taking part.