Bishop’s Stortford at the Cyril Gray 2023

The Cyril Gray Salver is a scratch foursomes matchplay competition played at Worplesdon Golf Club in Surrey for golfers aged over 50 and is a slimmed down version of the Halford Hewitt format with teams of 6 players from 32 schools.

Six of the Old Stortfordian Golf Society’s finest over 50s, having passed the rigorous selection process (“Are you free on 21st – 22nd June?”) duly congregated in Surrey in the third week of June. Our team this year comprised:

Duncan Smart (GH, SH, 75-81) & Bob Fell (GH, SHb, 60-69)

Robert Baker (GH, SH, 82-89) & Gideon Israel (SHa, 62-67)

James Greenall (Captain) (GH, AH, 65-74) & Keith Turner (GH, HH, 59-66)

A special mention should be given to Keith Turner who made his 25th consecutive appearance in the competition.

There was little in the way of expectation for our opening match in which we were drawn against Blundells, the defending champions, and we did not disappoint the bookies with a 2½-½ loss. However, prospects for the afternoon match in “The Plate” against King Edward’s, Birmingham were much brighter. Regular followers of these reports may recall that we beat King Edward’s in the second round of the Princes Plate at the Halford Hewitt in April this year. The full time score on this occasion was 1 win and 2 halves. Unfortunately in this competition 1+½+½ does not equal 2 and the two halved matches both had to go into extra time to achieve a result. With second pair Robert Baker and Gideon Israel continuing down the 20th, having halved the 19th, third pair James Greenall and Keith Turner duly delivered on the first extra hole with James rolling a 50ft putt to 12 inches for the win.

An element of panic ensued due to the late scheduled start of the following day’s match against Stoneyhurst which created an issue for Duncan Smart, but after a phone call later that afternoon he reassured the team that he would be able to play. Ultimately Stoneyhurst, regular finalists and a past winner of the main competition, proved to be just too good for us and a 3-0 loss was duly recorded.

On the final day of the competition Keith Turner and Bob Fell entered the Senior Cyril Gray, a foursomes stableford competition in which the combined age of each pairing must exceed 140. Although a score of 17 points may not sound great our pair gave a creditable performance compared to the winning score of 22 points.  Well played guys.

However, Bishop’s Stortford reaching their second quarter final of the year is a rare accomplishment and our team, which was not the strongest we could have fielded had everyone been available, performed admirably. The team had 3 days (including the practice day) of very competitive golf on one of the best courses in the country in glorious weather. Wonderful!

Photograph - From left to right, Keith Turner, Gideon Israel, Robert Baker, James Greenall, Robert Fell, Duncan Smart.

If any OS golfers would like to know more about the Cyril Gray Salver or the other activities of the Old Stortfordian Golf Society, please email osgolfsociety@gmail.com

James Greenall (GH, AH, 65-74)

Secretary

Old Stortfordian Golf Society