DUGS vs LUGS
Date: 8th March 2024
Venue: Royal St Georges Golf Club
Morning
LUGS DUGS
S Lloyd/N Falconer lost to A Neill/N Plunkett Dillon 2/1
J Lavelle/M Kershaw lost to M Murnane/J Conway Jnr
J Bull/J Smith 3/2 beat R Conway/J Conway
M Conway/K Johnston lost to M Gibson/M Fleming
E Clutton/G Yeandle lost to P O’Sullivan/D O’Grady
B Pile/J Sugden beat A Bryce/B Grundy
DUGS 4-2 LUGS
Afternoon
M Kershaw/J Smith A/S halved with A Neill/M Murnane A/S
S Lloyd/B Pile lost to N Plunkett Dillon/D O’Grady
J Lavelle/N Falconer lost to J Conway/A Bryce 1 hole
E Clutton/M Conway 1 hole beat R Conway/J Conway Jnr
J Bull//J Sugden lost to M Gibson/P O’Sullivan 1 hole
G Yeandle/K Johnston w/o beat M Fleming/B Grundy
DUGS 3.5-2.5 LUGS
RESULT DUGS 7.5-4.5 LUGS
Match report
Dateline 6.30 am Saturday 9 March – the sun is streaming in through the window of my east-
facing dormy room # 2 at the Royal St George’s Golf Club. What a magnificent early spring
morning! All is well with the world – DUGS have claimed an unexpected away win v LUGS
and the Irish rugby team is poised to move a step closer to a unique (for us) double Grand
Slam title when they meet England at Twickenham. What could possibly go wrong?
DUGS arrived in force at Thursday lunchtime for the traditional ‘practice’ round at RSG. In
fact, there were so many of us that we exceeded our tee time allotments and 6 of our group
travelled to Royal Cinque Ports to make up two fourballs with Stuart Lloyd and his wife
Sarah. After a brisk round in windy conditions, we all repaired to RSG for dinner where we
were treated to a sumptuous meal. The dinners – and the lunches! – at RSG are legendary
and the fare met the highest standards. The pairings for the following morning were
announced and all the competitors relished the hospitality.
Friday morning was dry, but a very stiff breeze was sweeping across the course. As usual,
we started our morning foursome matches from the 10 th tee. DUGS got off to the best
possible start with wins in the first two matches. Our captain Nicholas Plunkett Dillon (NPD)
and RSG member Aidan Neill overcame Stuart Lloyd & Neil Falconer in the top match, while
Hon Sec Mark Murnane and John Patrick Conway beat the mighty Mike Kershaw and
Jonathan Lavelle in the second match. That set the tone and the standard for the morning
and DUGS enjoyed a 4 – 2 advantage at lunchtime with wins from the partnerships of M
Gibson & M Fleming and D O’Grady (DOG) and P O’Sullivan (POS).
The lunchtime mood in the DUGS camp was decidedly upbeat. We stood on the cusp of our
first ‘away’ win in the 35 years of the fixture! But we needed to maintain our focus… Of
particular concern was the state of health of our former MVP Barry Grundy who complained
of a tightness in his chest during his morning round. It was decided that the better part of
valour was to rest him for the afternoon. So, Barry’s match was conceded and in fact the
scores on the doors as we took to the 1 st tee were 4 – 3 in favour of DUGS. Not a substantial
margin of advantage.
We need not have worried as once again the top of the order provided the points! We took
two and a half points from the first three matches – A Neill & M Murnane securing a valuable
half point in the top match which was followed by wins at # 2 and # 3 by captain NPD and
DOG and Andrew Bryce and John Stephen Conway. That put the overall result beyond
doubt. DUGS had 6 ½ points in the bag! M Gibson & POS completed the rout with a 1hole
victory to bring the winning margin to 7 ½ – 3 ½.
For the record, DUGS won the Shoeshine match as well. But the traditional ceremony had to
be postponed as Ben Pile (who partnered Stuart Lloyd) had to rush away to catch a train
back to London. M Fleming played on his own in the last match and secured a non-counting
(but moral) win against K Johnston & G Yeandle.
After the usual tea & cucumber sandwiches and celebratory pints, DUGS and remaining
LUGS took themselves off to the George & Dragon where we enjoyed a fine meal in the
most convivial company.