2nd Match - Captain/Pro Challenge Match Report (18th May 2025)
I forgot to get a picture of the challengers on the day - so here is a lovely photo from “the archives”. Looking great guys!
Sunday 18th May saw the second round of the Captain/Pro Challenge, with AJ and me up against the tough duo of Ken Marshall and Paul Lewis.
Ken and Paul came into the match with serious pedigree—having played in several Captain/Pro ties with AJ in previous years, they’d won their first three in a row before finally being edged out in the last event. So we knew we were in for a battle.
We got off to a shaky start—both of us lost tee shots left on the first, handing the challengers an easy lead. Somehow, we only found ourselves two down after five, and by the 7th, we were level again thanks to a stunning approach shot from AJ that left a tap-in birdie.
We briefly took the lead after the 8th, but Ken and Paul pulled it back to all square at the halfway mark.
I keep saying “we,” but truthfully, AJ did most of the work early on. My only real contribution in that stretch came on the 6th hole. It was more about hanging on and hoping I’d wake up and start helping out.
Thankfully, from the 11th onwards, I began to find some form and had a good battle with Paul and Ken through the 11th–14th holes. The 15th delivered one of the highlights of the day—Ken drained a putt the full length of the green, turning what looked like a sure win for us into a tied hole.
Then came the shot of the match. On the par-5 16th, AJ found a fairway bunker with a terrible stance under the lip. Most would’ve chipped out sideways. Instead, AJ went for it, clipped the ball cleanly from the sand, and landed it on the green, setting up a look at eagle and putting us dormy two up.
We sealed the win on 17, with the challengers unable to mount a comeback.
The match was thoroughly enjoyable and very competitive, with the lead changing hands and no team ever going more than two holes up.
We look forward to playing the next challengers: Stewart Miller & Dave Cuthbert, whom we are facing on the Queen’s Course on Friday 20th June.