By: Jonny Newton
Congratulations to the Old Framlinghamian team of Jonny Newton, Mike Schneidau, John Wybar and Matt Low who won the Dick Watson Trophy at the weekend. The trophy is an alumni, inter-school foursome competition played over the weekend at Aldeburgh Golf Club.
Jonny Newton and Mike Schneidau scored 32.5 points playing with Eton on Saturday morning in wet and windy conditions. Their highlight of the round and the biggest cheer of the day occurred when Mike scored a hole in one on the tricky, short Par 3 fourth hole. With over 60 players playing on the day, it was an expensive shot! John Wybar and Matt Low scored 33.5 points playing with Radley, which at lunch put Framlingham in third position knowing that they must get into second or better to reach the final.
In the afternoon Jonny and Matt scored 34 points playing with Bradfield. Bradfield knocked out Framlingham in this year’s Halford Hewitt and it looked like they enjoyed convincingly beating them on home soil in their match. John and Mike scored 36 points in the afternoon playing with a strong Winchester side who were playing for the top spot. This was a great performance from John to score well again in wet and windy conditions and this result put Framlingham top of the day’s play and a place in the final on Sunday morning. The traditional dinner at the club was attended by all the teams, with several speeches and various betting on the outcome of the Sunday Dinner matches that was drawn that night.
A late night was followed by an early start on Sunday; however, the final was played in better conditions with less wind. The format changed to match play, with Jonny and John giving 5 strokes to a strong Winchester pair. Framlingham went one up after the first and held this until the 9th hole. Matt and Mike played well and kept it to one down after some excellent golf from the Winchester team at the halfway point. It stayed tight for the rest of the match and impressively Matt and Mike pulled it back from 4 down on the 15th, to 2 down on the 18th. Jonny and John got to 4 up on the 15th, but lost the 16th, before halving the 17th after John went very close with his tee shot on the 17th. Only a miraculous up and down from the greenside bunker kept the game going. The game finished after Matt and Mike won the 18th meaning Framlingham were 2 clear shots ahead as they teed off on the 18th in the final game.
It was a fantastic achievement from the team, John Wybar had the top score over the weekend, Mike had the first hole in one in the tournament’s history and Matt Low had his first outing for the first team. Matt will be a force in future Halford Hewitt teams and our Halford future looks bright with a strong schoolboy team being coached by Dougal Lyon in the wings.