The forecast for last Thursday indicated heavy squally showers with some bright spells. Sixteen Tenby senior golfers set off for Carmarthen full of hope and optimism. The mood darkened as they encountered constant rain between St. Clears and Carmarthen. Wet weather gear, it seemed, would be a necessity. As they watched the obvious downpour over the coast, the mood lifted somewhat as the predicted weather seemed to skirt round the hill on which Carmarthen Golf Club is situated. Come tee-off time and the conditions were cloudy and breezy. Would it last?

Dudley strode out to the first tee full of confidence. Well he had chosen the big Kiwi as his playing partner. What he had not reckoned on was the fact that Allen Watts had to concede 38 shots (19 to Dudley and 19 to Dennis Driscoll) which meant two shots each on the stroke index one hole, so he had to maintain whatever form remained after last Saturday’s medal competition.

Things did not fare too well as they fell behind, at one point they were three holes down. Pride and reputation were at stake and it awakened the skill set in the dogged New Zealander enabling him, with Dudley’s help, to recover the lost holes and snatch the result from the home captain on the eighteenth hole.

Now it was up to the rest of his team. Had he paired them to best advantage? Well, for a start, Mike Fox was not there, he had forgotten to put his name on the team sheet (too busy selling his house). To add to the discord, John Hancock had to drop out due to a painful foot. This, of course, left Paul Bradley buddy-less. How would he survive without his golfing soul mate? Not very well, it would seem. Alan Jones tried to console and support him as they battled it out against Peter Jones and Elwyn Morgan all to no avail.

Stan Hudson, fresh from his medal success, was able to win the 18th hole in their struggle against Hywel Morris and George Laidlaw, but it was too late. The match was already over. He and Derek Cole had found themselves four holes down with four to play. Try as they might, they were unable to redeem any more holes so they too had to retire gracefully.

Was there any pairing able to bring a smile to Dudley’s face? There was one pair who came very close. Having extricated himself from the bottom place in the fantasy golf league, Martin Neilan approached his, and John Hayhoe’s, match with great confidence. Well at least Martin did! Jim Crawford and Rob Lincoln stood in their way and, with home advantage, proved stubborn and effective in their resistance. No smile for Dudley here then.

Des Stone and Jim Martin found themselves two down after two holes. Despite some competent driving (not the buggy), their short game skills let them down as they struggled against Ray Sinden and Chris Smith. They were able to halve a number of holes, but only succeeded in winning one. Not good enough as the home pair interlinked well to deny them any chance of success.

Newman Vincent and Roger Scholfield realised that their day was doomed when they witnessed an in form 11 handicap golfer. Tony Jones, helped by Rob Thomas, set about his task of demoralising the Tenby pair with great accuracy as numerous pars, interspersed with the occasional birdie, put paid to any hope of a Tenby victory.

David Rees and Michael Whale were up against Mick Fenny and Ian Ritchie, resulting in the same score as that of Jim Martin, while Alan Yates and John Hall had Dai Elias and Alan Edwards to contend with. Unfortunately, neither pair was able to lighten Dudley’s mood as they reported in with the result of each match.

Amidst all of this doom, there was something to smile about. The weather was kind to all of these golfers. There was a brief period of light rain, but for 90 per cent of the afternoon, the mixture of breeze, scudding clouds and occasional sunshine made for a most enjoyable afternoon played on a challenging course in immaculate condition.

So this band of 16 golfers returned down the motorway with tails between their legs, reminiscing on what went wrong and looking forward to the next encounter.

Results: D. Williams and A. Watts beat R. Bowen and D. Driscoll; S. Hudson and D. Cole lost to H. Morris and G. Laidlaw; A. Jones and P. Bradley lost to P. Jones and E. Morgan; J. Martin and D. Stone lost to R. Sinden and C. Smith; M. Neilan and J. Hayhoe lost to J. Crawford and R. Lincoln; D. Rees and M. Whale lost to M. Fenny and I. Ritchie; N. Vincent and R. Scholfield lost to T. Jones and R. Thomas; A. Yates and J. Hall lost to D. Eleis and A. Edwards.

As a bit of fun, the scores have not been put alongside the names. They are listed below to see if you can match the score with the players with clues in the report. Have fun: (+1), ( -1 ), (2&1), (3&2), (5&4), (6&4), (6&4), (7&6).

The scores are irrelevant since a win is a win and a loss is a loss.

D.S.