First Team 2nd in South East Group qualifier.
The 2019 six man qualifier was held at Ashford GC in Kent on July 13th.
The Surrey team was-
David Corben
Enrique Dimayuga
Max O’Hagan
Harvey Byers
Charlie Crockett
Harry Plowman Ollington
After practice rounds on the 2 previous days the team looked in good form and confident of a
quality performance. The morning round reflected this with under par rounds from Enrique (66),
Harvey (68) and David (69), and rounds of 73 for both Max & Charlie, with Harry completing the
scoring on 78, all 6 scores counting. This saw the team 2 shots behind the hosts in 2nd place at
lunch, +1 to par overall. We knew we would need to start well in the afternoon and the early news
was good with early birdies from David, Harvey, Max & Harry. The word from course was that it
was going to be a close run 2 horse race between Surrey and Kent, and our hopes grew when
Max, Harvey and Harry posted early scores of 66,67 & 69 respectively, Enrique then adding a 73
to the total, with Charlie posting 78. David carded a 2nd consecutive 69 to see us end the day
with a total of 849 (-3 for the 12 scores) and left us waiting on the news of the final Kent players.
Sadly for us the news was not good with Kent making some late birdies for a winning total of 845,
with Suffolk in 3rd place with 858. Harvey finished 2nd in the individual event 2 shots behind Jack
Hawksby of Bedfordshire, who was an excellent -9 for the day. Kent therefore would represent the
South East at the Finals in September.
The County 1st team played our first home South East League match of the season against
Hampshire at Addington Palace on Sunday August 4th. Following 2 excellent away wins in Sussex
and Dorset we knew that our fate was in our own hands. We knew that this Hampshire side would
be a tough nut to crack but as usual we prepared thoroughly, and on a course that we had won
4 times out of 4 in the past few years, we were confident of a big performance. Match day was
warm albeit a little breezy and the foursomes started on the tough uphill par 3, only after all the
players and coaches had been eaten alive by nasty little beasties on the practice strip. Match 1
pairing for Surrey were County Championship finalists David Corben & Angus Flanagan, both
multiple winners in amateur events this year, David in The UK and Angus in the USA, where he
is at college in Minnesota. Although nip and tuck early on, 3 birdies in succession on the 13th,
14th & 15th saw the top pair win 4 & 3. Match 2 would see the talented young duo of Harvey
Byers & Charlie Crockett take on Hampshire pair Conor Richards & George Saunders. Surrey led
for most of the round but a barrage of late Hampshire birdies meant they nicked the point on the
last green, the only time Hampshire had led all morning and the scores were tied at 1-1. Match
3 pairing for Surrey was Max O Hagan and Lewis Hinton. Max returning after missing the Dorset
match and Lewis fresh from a good run the previous week in the English Amateur at Hankley
Common. The Surrey pair dominated the early exchanges and were 2up playing the tricky 15th.
Hampshire birdied and then again on the short 16th to level the match before Max rolled in
a beauty for a birdie at the 17th to go up the 18th hole, (Crockett Way), named after Surrey
legend, Simon Crockett who has won the Club Championship at Addington Palace some 17
times! 2 solid shots to the green followed by 2 putts for a birdie and Max & Lewis won by 1 hole.
The anchor match was also very tight, Ben Palmer & Harry Crockett being the Surrey pair. Holes
were exchanged through the front nine but mainly halves on the back nine saw the boys come
up Crocketts Way all square. Both teams missed the par 5 green in 2 and after the approaches it
came down to the putts, Surrey narrowly missing and Hampshire holing a tricky downhill putt
and we were off to lunch with the scores level at 2 - 2. During our half time team talk we felt we
had been the better team in the morning and should have had at least some kind of lead going
into the singles. The instruction was clear. More of the same, stick to the plan and we should
progress. Harvey would lead us off against England player Billy McKenzie. Birdies were traded all
the way round, both players several under par, with Hampshire leading most of the way, but wins
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