The Glorious Long Marston team get sweet revenge after 5 years of hurt ROW 6 - 22 LM
The ruthless Long Marston team played dirty tricks to win the cup, nicking 2 of ROW best players, dropping their Capt to play Mike Pennington in the singles and bringing 4 Rookies in instead of 2 but Andy Toal stole the cup so who cares ?????????
AndyWinkle - ROW Rob Walsh - Long Marston
Vice Capt S.Luker Vice Capt K.Scott
Team (from) Team (from)
M.Winkle, D.Winkle
A.Toal, A.Hone Mark Glover, Jamie Waugh
G.Hone (Rookie), M.Ward Spencer Farrell, Terry Edmonds
M.Wassel, S.Walters Kenny Aston, Charlie Longbottom
M.Sherratt, D.Marshall Mike Jeffries, John Carruthers (Rookie)
A.McGlade, Dave Silvester Chris Bott (Rookie), Bob Blair,
K.McNulty J.Pochin (Rookie) M.Pennington
K.Emerson (Rookie)
Friday Fourballs
With both sides being a player down it is decided to break tradition and play the Fourball matches instead of the Foursomes on the first day.
This being betterball allows the two odd players for each team to go out as singles i.e. their ball is the betterball on every hole.
Only two of these matches are close with both points going to LM.
Sherratt & A.Hone lost 2 &1 to Blair and Farrell and closer still G.Hone and M.Winkle lose to Aston and Edmonds on the 18th hole
Scott Walters and Dave Winkle are one of the only two pairs to win for ROW along with Marshall and Toal as LM take a massive first day lead of 2 - 5 to bed on Friday night.
Dave Silvester and Mick Wassell,
the usually good pairing fail miserably against
Mark Glover and Mike Jeffries,
Dave said afterwards "It was Nip and Tuck and all square after 7 holes but then we lost 6 holes on the trot to lose 6 & 5 on 13th" Everybody thought this statement was very hilarious for some reason.
And so to the Saturday Foursomes :-
The Captains pick the crucial pairings
Captain Rob Walsh gets it spot on again and takes the foursomes by storm with a massive win of 1-6 taking the score after the second day to an impressive 3-11
Most of the ROW pairs roll over and die except for Luker & Ward who win the only point for ROW on Saturday
3 other matches go close with LM coming out on top each time with a 1 hole win for Walsh and Poachin in the Captains head to head against A.J. & M.Winkle.
It was nip and tuck for Silvester and McGlade in the match against Longbottom and Emerson surrendering a 2 hole lead after 12 holes they lose 4 holes on the trot to finally lose 2 & 1 on the 17th green.
The other close game has Wassell and G.Hone giving up an early lead to allow Edmonds and Aston to come back and go dormie 1up on the 17th and then winning the final hole to complete the 2 hole win.
The Final day and the Sunday Singles
ROW needed a miracle to win 11 out of the 14 singles to retain the cup but again fail miserably. Traditionally the singles usually go fairly even with points being shared but ROW lose by the amount they needed to win by 3-11. This takes final score onto 6-22 with a massive overall win by Rob Walsh and his determined Long Marston Team.
After the first 4 matches out LM quickly take the score to 7-14 then there is slight tussle as ROW hold for a while, but in terms of time line, Spencer Farrell in the 10th match out takes it to 15 points for LM with a mauling of Mick Wassell 8 up with 6 to play.
Capt A J Winkle made a gallant effort with a 6-4 win over Ken Aston and Mark Sherratt did very well to beat LM's lowest Handicapper Mike Pennington, but this is cancelled out by the fine win by Longbottom over Luker who is ROW's Lowest Handicapper. Scott Walters and G.Hone did well with half a point each in their respective tussles with Waugh and Edmonds but the Rest of the Rest of the World just didnt show up on the day.
Capt. Rob Walsh gets the Cup from Capt. A J Winkle
A Mention for the Rookies-
Welcome to the Wyder Cup
Ken McNulty & Gary Hone,
John Carruthers, Keith Emerson, Chris Bott & Jim Pochin
Player of the Tournament
The Captains couldnt decide on an individual at the time, but Long Marston seemed to have several Players worthy of the title this year.
In particular Spencer Farrell, Mark Glover, Mike Jeffries, Charlie Longbottom & Keith Emerson who all won 3 points over the 3 days.
Charlie later being singled out by Rob Walsh see his report. 
WYDER CUP 2008-LONG MARSTON CAPTAIN'S REPORT
With reflection, what a fantastic couple of days, the entire competition was good natured, friendly but with a very distinct competitive edge. It had been a number of years since Long Marston lifted the trophy, and that makes the victory all the sweeter.
The lead up to the tournament had been problematic, with a number of regulars missing for various reasons (Injuries, holidays and personal decisions). This had led to the Long Marston team being short of numbers, and threatened the competition taking place. With this as a backdrop, we need to firstly acknowledge AJ, as his attitude of support and flexibility allowed us to progress. Secondly, we need to thank the rookies on both sides, who stepped in, some at very short notice, to provide the numbers we needed. I feel that it is important as we progress, that if we want the tournament to continue, we need to all get behind the captains, and support and help them wherever possible.
Looking at the Long Marston team, there were so many success stories, it is hard to know where to start. The following players all had full points from the tournament:
- Spencer Farrell
- Charles Longbottom
- Keith Emerson
- Jim Waugh
- Mark Glover
- Mike Jeffries
- Jim Pochin
- Bob Blair (one out of one)
I feel that Kev Scott would also have joined the players above, had it not been for playing alongside myself on the first day. As they have proven in past years, Terry Edmonds and Kenny Aston proved a great partnership with victories in both the fourballs and the foursomes. And finally, my two nominated rookies of Chris Bott and John Carruthers both lived up to their words and delivered points in the singles – well done all.
Within every competition, there is always an element of luck, and I certainly had my share when it came to the ‘draw’ for the two players who would be loaned to Long Marston. To draw Darren and Mark was extremely fortunate, particularly as I fully expected AJ to have entered Dave Silvester’s name on 10 of the pieces of paper. Big thanks to both Darren and Mark for playing with integrity and both contributing to the ‘good guys’ cause and delivering points.
From a personal perspective it was ironic drawing Darren, as he and Andy Toal had taken Myself and Kev Scott apart on the first day. Darren seemed to decide personally that he wanted to show us how the game of golf should be played, and to be fair, he did play wonderfully. We maintained at worst Bogey golf, and were trounced 4&3. The game I really enjoyed was the foursomes. We maintained the Captains tradition as AJ and Martin Winkle, gave Jim Pochin and myself a fantastic match. Jim and I had opened a lead, but the ROW team never gave up and brought the game back to all square after 16. Jim and I were fortunate to win the 17th putting us dormie. A very nervous performance down the 18th ended with Jim sinking a two futt putt to halve the last – and give Long Marston the win.
Not playing the last day was hard, but I had confidence in the team, and everyone delivered. Not all winners, but everyone played their part, and the victory was in early.
This is probably a point to mention the Player of the Tournament – Charles Longbottom. Not only had Charles and Keith won both pairs matches, but Keith had remarked to me on how positive Charles was, and how enjoyable is was to play alongside him. Furthermore, when Charles drew ‘superstar’ Luker in the singles, he embraced the challenge and was determined to give it his best shot. With this positive attitude, delivered a fantastic win, which was possibly the result of the day. When AJ spoke to me about this, we agreed immediately that Charles was the player of the tournament. Well done Charles!!!
So on reflection, what do I remember from the weekend:
- A lot of laughter
- Some very good fortune
- Fantastic camaraderie across both teams
- Fantastic golf
- Great wins
- And some very silly practical jokes……….
What do I remember most – winning the trophy…………….a big thanks to all of the Long Marston team for their support, and also to the Rest of the World team for making it such an enjoyable competition.
Rob Walsh