THERE was a trio of recent fixtures involving Stover Golf Club, starting first with the SDL team.
Stover travelled to Torquay for the latest round of SDL fixtures, aiming to protect their unbeaten start to the season.
Karl Green made his Stover SDL debut in game one alongside Kyle Beavis and despite some excellent golf, the first point went the way of the hosts.
Game two ended all-square with Simon Gaskin and Paul McGlinchey fighting tooth and nail, before Dan Greenberry and Callum Cogavin saw their stretch of wins come to an end in game three.
Torquay gained further advantage in game four as Matt Lyne and Craig Lamble had to concede too many shots to the home team.
With Stover's unbeaten record under serious threat, Hayden Priscott and Andy Rich took command of their match, eventually winning 3&2 to claim the team’s first full point of the day. Ryan Wheeler and Dan Hall continued their streak of positive results in game four, being pushed all the way. It took a superb tee shot by Ryan Wheeler to three feet on the 18th hole to secure a 2-up victory.
In the final game, Nathan Cotton and Archie Christophers found themselves one down on the 17th tee, but the latter came to the fore and ensured overall honours were even, 3.5-3.5.
Next up for the SDL team are Teignmouth, taking place on June 15.
Meanwhile, the Palairet campaign began with a match against Teign Valley at Elfordleigh.
6&4 and 4&3 were the first two results in Stover’s favour, Devon duo Matt Handley & Archie Christophers and Mike Copperwhite and Andy Rich being responsible for this success.
Team captain Matt Lyne partnered Paul McGlinchey in what turned out to be the tightest match of the day in game 3, before securing victory on the 18th hole.
Ryan Wheeler and Dan Hall continued their impressive streak before Craig Gamble and Cyril Gosling completed the whitewash, lining up a meeting with Tiverton next month.
Finally now to the Still Cup, which was played at the prestigious Saunton on May 31.
Saunton were last year’s losing finalists and they lived up to that billing with a win of five matches to two representing the tough conditions. Angie Hickey and Sarah Hoff were the two Stover victors.
Just three days later, they were in action again and were the victims of a resurgent Torquay side keen for revenge, Ann Marie Cleave, Annette Haigh and Lou Vassie winning their matches in a narrow 4-3 loss.
Stover have two wins and three defeats to their name currently and so will need to prevail in the final outing when Saunton come to town- hopefully the new course can be the secret weapon that makes the difference.