The Halford Hewitt Cup 2023
Mark Whittaker reports.
Following a very successful and enjoyable squad March warm up in Spain, the following were selected to represent the Hewitt team:
Mark Whittaker(J86) Christian Minchella (H94) James Faulkner (E01) Alex Faulkner (E05) Matthew Camacho (C98) Tom Davies (H02) Luca Gerolla (O16) Hugh Myers (D20) Hugh Jackson(T95) Raul Urrea(EW12)
We were especially delighted to welcome debutant Raul Urrea from Mexico. Raul had recently graduated from San Diego University and has a handicap of plus 2!
We had a tough draw in Round 1 v Eton, if successful there was the prospect of much more comfortable path till the latter parts of the competition…if only we could beat Eton! We came so very close, with the match finely balanced at 2-2 it all came down to the formidable pair of Camacho and Davies.
All square playing the 18th, the hole was halved in 5s when both teams missed putts for par.
Onto the 19th, we launch a huge drive down the middle, sadly and most unfortunately the ball ran into a fairway bunker at 320yards, with the ball being lodged between a rake and the bunkers lip edge. It provided no shot and after 2 attempts whilst opposition hit their 2nd to the green resulted in us having to give the hole and subsequent match. Desperately unlucky.
Overall Match score was Ampleforth 2 – Eton 3, game results as follows:
- Hugh Jackson (T95) & Raul Urrea (EW12) lost 3&2 to F Irwin& H Paine
- James Faulkner (E01) & Alex Faulkner (E05) won 3&2 against J Krefting & E Innes-Ker
- Matt Camacho (C98) & Tom Davies (H02) lost 19th to E Greenhalgh & T Greenhalgh
- Luca Gerolla (O16) & Hugh Myers (D20) lost 2&1 to H Blake & R Giddins
- Mark Whittaker (J86) & Christian Minchella (H94) won 6&5 against A Leslie & J Giddins
A 6 man team was then picked to play in the Plate competition at Princes Golf Club:
Mark Whittaker (J86) Raul Urrea (EW12) James Faulkner (E01) Alex Faulkner (E05) Hugh Myers (D20) Thomas Whittaker(H22)
The Plate competition provided an opportunity for Raul to experience more competitive foursomes links golf and also to welcome debutant Thomas Whittaker aged 19 having left the College in June 2022.
In what can only be described as brutal conditions, extremely cold, wet and windy, the team performed exceptionally well beating Chigwell, Mill Hill and Bishops Stortford.
We were delighted to have made it through to the semi-final at Deal, and in gusting 35mph wind lost to a very strong Bedford who would go onto win the tournament.
It was tough to lose to Eton this year is such a close match but two things are certain, our luck will change and we will be back!!
On behalf of the team I would like to express our deep gratitude to all our wonderful supporters, our time will definitely come!!