16th March 2023 Match vs Little Sai Wan Golf Society – Macau GCC
With all Covid restrictions now lifted, we were delighted to be able to restart this annual fixture against Hong Kong’s oldest golf society. It is an event which we won the first few times it was held, but in more recent years we have been less successful and so were determined to win the trophy back this year.
To reach the pinnacle of preparation (not to mention avoiding a very early start), Dallas Reid and Shane Burgess headed to Macau on the Wednesday to check out the course and try to glean some secret information for the match. The main tip they were able to send back to the rest of the team was that the greens were very slow.
On the Thursday, the remaining players all arrived on the coach that Captain Andy had organized from the ferry. Unfortunately despite him repeatedly advising the coach company that we would arrive at the Taipa terminal, the bus waited for them at the other Turbojet terminal. Fortunately with the help of the wonders of mobile phones, players and coach were eventually reunited and everyone was on time for the official tee time. There was even enough time to make some practice putts on the putting green which confirmed the tip about the slow greens.
Of course it turned out that the greenkeeping staff had aggressively mown the greens (but not the practice green) overnight as our team discovered when their putts on the first few holes went sailing past the hole!
Other than that all the matches proceeded smoothly, with some good, bad and ugly golf being displayed. Mention must be given to Simon Hague, who finished his round with a flourish by eagling the 550 yard closing hole to the delight of the onlookers who were already rehydrating with tins of Macau Beer.
Sadly for the Football Club, despite our best efforts it became obvious that Little Sai Wan were once again victorious. Captain Andy did however point out that as LSW do not have a clubhouse or trophy cabinet, it would be best if we kept the trophy at the Football Club.
After the match we had a pleasant session on the verandah overlooking the South China sea where the trophy was (briefly) handed over to Captain Cuvelier. The players then proceeded to buy the entire stock of Blue Girl at the ferry terminal, and a high proportion of all the Carlsbergs on the Cotai ferry.
Match results were:-
LSW HKFC Result
JP Cuvelier (Capt) Andy Ho (Capt) HKFC 5&4
Wynand Oosthuyzen Dallas Reid LSW 3&2
George Sobek Simon Hague LSW 3&2
Simon Acton Ian Petersen LSW 5&3
Will Glover Olie Ted Beijings LSW 3&1
Nick Gikas Matt Keefe A/S
Lorenz Zimmermann Terry Wright HKFC 2 Up
Stuart McKenzie Marco Jorge A/S
Michael Jackson (yes really) Jonny Brock LSW 3&2
Alistair Murray Shane Burgess LSW 6&5
Little Sai Wan won 7 matches to 3.
