OC Golf Bernard Darwin Trophy and Open Qualifying Report
BERNARD DARWIN TROPHY (over 55s) – Thursday 26th June 2025 at Woking Golf Club
1st Round v Rugby
Due to widespread unavailability, we had two players who played in the Veteran Darwin (over 75) earlier – namely Robert Phillips (SH 1961) and Andrew Gibson (GH 1961). Captain Mark Walton (FG 1971) sounded them out on the team order. It was agreed the best chance of victory lay in our playing our best pairs at the back end. With Robert and Andrew going out first, luckily this tactic worked as their first pair was very strong and our chaps were very much sacrificial lambs. The start from 4th tee was steady and all square after 3 holes. Thereafter Highgate could only marvel at some quality golf by the opposition before succumbing to sizeable defeat. Pair 2 was Gerald Wingrove (NG 1967) & Graham Dunbar (MG 1970) starting also on the fourth tee. We got off to a fast start paring the first 4 holes to go 4 up, eventually getting to 6 up with 8 to play. Rugby then staged a partial fight back by winning two holes, but we held on to win the match 4&3. Mark Walton teamed up with Mike Stainton (QG 1974) and as a team played really solid golf in a 4&2 win against a competitive Rugby pair. We won our first hole (starting on the 4th) and with good putting from Mike we built a lead reaching 4 up after 12 holes. Once ahead, we never looked in trouble, eventually closing the match out with a birdie on the 1st hole (our 16th).
2nd Round v Charterhouse
The afternoon saw Highgate taking on the might of Charterhouse, who were defending champions. We retained the same order but Charterhouse have three pairs equally as strong as each other and some still getting into their Hewitt team. All Robert and Andrew could do was watch the quality golf of their opponents before retreating to the club house following an even heavier defeat. Gerald and Graham again went out in the middle. A high quality start and the first was halved in birdies, but after that we could not reproduce the mornings form and holes leaked away. We fought hard and won some good holes. By the 15th our chaps were 3 down with 4 to play when the result of the match was in and a gentleman’s half was offered. Last pair again was Mark and Mike up against a Charterhouse pair who were extremely strong, with one scratch player and a low handicap partner. We won the 1st hole, but then proceeded to make a series of errors, losing 8 holes in a row as Charterhouse played superbly. We rallied somewhat but there was no way back. Charterhouse ended up narrowly losing in the final to Uppingham.
OPEN QUALIFYING – Monday 23rd June 2025
In addition, our Halford Hewitt Captain, Micky Tudor (WG 1986) attempted to qualify for The Open. The first stage is Regional Qualifying, which for him took place at Ferndown Golf Club. There were only 9 spaces up for grabs in a field of 126 players, including both professionals as well as amateurs. As one would expect for The Open, the course was in immaculate condition on the day. One was made to feel like a Tour pro for the day with premium golf balls on the practice range and rules officials all over the course. Micky was off mid-morning and unfortunately got off to a slow start with a bogey on the first. He then has a settling run of three holes, but dropped shots again on the 5th and 6th. On the long walk to the 7th tee, his caddie gave him a little pep talk. This did the trick as Micky played near faultless golf covering the last 12 holes in 1 under par. He finished on 2 over par, tied 26th which is very credible. The biggest challenge for Micky on the day was the greens. He just did not manage to hole anything of note which denied him the chance to challenge. He ended only three shots out of a play off for three spots for Final Qualifying.