Annual Golf Match:  Squash Section vs Tennis Section (by John Thompson)

In November the Squash Section had their annual golf match with the Tennis Society on the North course at Kai Sai Chau. Now in its 5^th year the squash team remained unbeaten after two wins and two very tight draws in the last four outings so the tennis section were keen to get revenge and finally get their name engraved on the trophy.

The squash team had a good mix of players for the game ranging from the single handicap very “handy’ players to the more “how to spoil an enjoyable walk type player.” With this in mind the team pairings were going to be key to see if the squash section could remain unbeaten for a fifth straight year.

Dallas Reid and Ian Mavin were the first players up for the squash section in what on paper was one of the stronger match ups with them playing a team which had a player with a handicap of 4 Johnny Brock who went on to win the longest drive on the 7^th and Toby Clark.

The game didn’t disappoint and was very close all the way through. The almost boring steady style of Ian was complimented well with the more adventurous Dallas. The pair dovetailed nicely throughout and with them going up the 18^th all square the game was in the balance and all square. Neither team could win the hole so the game was halved and the points shared.

Andrew Wood and Julian Ragless were second up for the squash section. They were up against the long hitting tennis coaches so it was always going to be a tough game to come through. With everyone hitting well off the first tee it was difficult to choose who would be a winner.

This match won the most prizes along the way with Julian getting the closest to the pin on the third and Andrew winning the closest to the pin on shot 3 on the 17^th. Their opponents Nathan Booth and Matthew Johnston also won closest to the pin prizes on holes 6 and 7 respectively. The tennis team started strong and put a good run together to leave the squash team too much to do. With holes running out the squash side couldn’t turn the game around and lost 4 and 3.

The third pairing saw Nick Shultz and Brian McDougall playing for the squash section vs counterparts Josh Ngo and Henry Lai. Again the tennis team took early advantage. They managed to keep in front throughout most of the round. Henry’s closest to the pin on the 14^th ensured that the tennis team would keep their advantage as they won the game 4 and 2.

In the penultimate round Keith Frith and Jukka Hakli for squash played against Anatole Le who was playing alone after a late injury hit the tennis team. In a very close game Jukka managed to hit some very close shots on the par 3s without managing to win a prize but him and Keith couldn’t quite get a scoring run together and they were one down on the 17^th. Anatole managed to take the advantage and win the 17^th to make it 2 and 1 and the overall spoils for the tennis section.

Last up was John Thompson from squash vs the tennis’ ex-chairman Greg Brutus. In what was an enjoyable game John got ahead early and kept the lead all the way through to the 12^th where he was 3 up. Greg dug deep and won the next 3 holes to make it all square. In a very tense ending Greg missed a tough putt to halve the 16^th. The pair went down the 18^th with the game still to be decided but a scrappy last hole was won by John to win for squash and take the game 2 up.

In summary the tennis team finally won 3.5 vs 1.5 in their 5^th try and take the rather large and heavy trophy back to the 3^rd floor for a year. The squash section are already looking forward to next year and getting the trophy back. A great day was had by all, many thanks to everyone who played and the squash section and tennis society for assisting the organisation.