Dave Smith reports …
The opening intercounty match for 2026 was played against Hampshire and hte Isle of Wight Captains at Libbaton Golf Club, with the weather looking to be dry but overcast.
Captain Dave welcomed Hampshire Captain Terry and his team, and introduced Libbaton Vice Captain Nick Lee who gave a welcome on behalf of Libbaton Golf Club.
The first match featured Dave and Nick playing Hampshire Captain Terry Glynn and Vice-Captain Paul Childs.
Captain Dave’s attempt at getting things moving quickly resulted in a rather embarrassing breach of protocol, with him driving off first instead of inviting the visiting Captain to get the match underway. The golfing gods where obviously watching as the captain’s ball went left and out of bounds.
The Hampshire duo got off to a quick start, and went 2 up after 2. Dave and Nick were leading 1 up at the turn, but were then 3 down with 5 to play, but again pulled it back, and with 1 to play it was all square. A brief discussion between captains resulted in agreeing a honourable half.
As the matches started to come in, it became clear that the handicap matching in the pairings was proving to have worked, with all games going to the last hole with the exception one match.
Following a most enjoyable meal and short speeches by both captains, the match result was announced by Hampshire Captain Terry which was 5 & 3 loss for Devon, which included 4 halved matches.
I look forward to meeting different captains at Elfordleigh for the match against Sussex on the 22nd April.
