Benign conditions at Burnham and Berrow Golf club greeted the Sherborne team on the first morning of the competition.  Excellent practice had been done on the previous day and confidence was high in the expectation of playing Marlborough in the first round, only to find that it was Taunton as Marlborough had been scratched.  Jos Pralle teed off against the home club champion and the match was well and truly started.  In the end it proved a relatively easy victory for the school 4-1.  In the afternoon Canford were the next opponents.  In the last 14 years Sherborne had never beaten Canford.  Was this the day?  The determination to win was very evident from the quiet on the first tee.  All players were aware of what was at stake – a place in the final.  Phone messages flew from the sand dunes at Burnham to Mr Pryor in his study.  It was very tight – James Trotman had lost, Jos Pralle, Charlie Leach and Zaidoon Zakaria were all involved in very tight matches and then as the round was nearing completion Robbie Busher won 4 and three with both Jos Pralle and Zaidoon Zakaria securing excellent victories to take the school to a 3-2 victory.  It was very easy to see what this meant to the team.

Yet again the sun shone on the morning of the final against Cheltenham.  No breakfast was taken at school as the bacon and egg baps in the club house made sure that all were fully prepared for the match.  Lewis Hinch, now available to play, replaced James Trotman who had come into the team at the very last minute.  As the players set off into the country MJC and MAP had to have another cup of coffee and even resisted temptation refusing another bap!  A walk out to the end of the course saw the match very evenly poised with each side up in two matches with the other being all square.  By the thirteenth Cheltenham were up in three matches.  Charlie Leach was the first to complete his match going down 7 and 6.  It was all becoming very close and tense and walking to the sixteenth green one saw a cluster of players.  Jos Pralle had won 3 and 1 against the Cheltenham number one.  Robbie Busher was all square and Zaidoon was dormy three up.  Lewis Hinch appeared walking down the sixteenth fairway with thumbs raised, having secured a 6 and 5 victory.  Sherborne was 2-1 up.  Zaidoon was forced to make a very short putt to halve the hole.  It was in.  He did not know that it was the winning putt, but when he did elation for all.  A 3-2 victory had been so well-deserved by a determined and extremely focused team.

How good it will be to see Sherborne’s name on the boards in the Golf Club after a gap of 30 years!  This was the 50th playing of the tournament and only the third time that the School has been victorious. 

Congratulations to all!

Michael Cleaver