Portal, Walker & Newport Cups

Portal, Walker & Newport Cups

Brentwood Golf Club  

Thursday 7 September 2023

There was a cautious optimism when we arrived at Brentford Golf Club in Essex to compete for the Newport, Walker and Portal Cups against the Southern Railway Golfing Society and our hosts, the Eastern Region Golfing Society. Captain Dave Wiggett and Alex Gretton had set a great example by travelling all the way from Stratford-upon-Avon the previous evening where they were joined by Sean Cunningham for an overnight stay at Mrs Miggins’ Guest House. And John Mayley had heroically volunteered to stand in for Gordon Shirreffs who had to withdraw late on because of his wife’s ill health. It may have been the hottest day of the year, but we were up for it.

The morning competitions are over 9 holes. We compete for both the Walker Cup  (3 teams of 8 playing individual Stableford, with the best 7 scores counting for each team) and the Newport Cup (combined scores of each team’s captain and secretary or their representatives). It did not start well! Captain Dave Wiggett did his bit by scoring an excellent 18 points; but the Secretary’s feeble total of 11 points meant that we came third (sounds better than last!). We fared better in the Walker Cup as runners-up to the Eastern Region by the small margin of 4 Stableford points.

The Walker & Newport Cups Results Sheet below shows all the scores and the final results tables for both competitions. 

In the afternoon we competed for the Portal Cup, playing 4-ball better ball matchplay over 18 holes.  Two of our players, Stewart Hamilton and Tim Shaughnessy, were on fire, sharing 11 birdies between them and delivering 2 wins with help from their playing partners. Sean Cunningham and Nigel Bailey also played great golf winning by the biggest margin of the day, 4 & 2. Unfortunately for Captain Dave and Alex, they came up against an inspired Paul O’Neill of the Southern. Dave and Alex played well, but Paul’s putter was on fire and they lost by the narrowest of margins, 1 down. 

So we had won 3 matches and lost 1. But the cup holders, the Southern, did not relinquish their hold on the trophy without a fight. They had also won 3 and lost 1, meaning that the Eastern, despite their morning heroics, had lost all their matches. So it was down to winning margins to determine the winner. Our pairs had won 4&2, 3&2 and 1 up and lost 1 down, giving a positive net total of 7. The Southern pairs had won 3&1, 2 up and 1 up and lost 3&2, giving a positive net total of 3. So we were declared the winners. Well done, Team!

The Portal Cups Results Sheet below shows all the match results and the final results table. 

For the results of the Portal Cup, the Walker Cup and the Newport Cup  in previous years, please click on 'Booklets' and refer to the relevant Booklet(s) or, if before 2013, click on 'Our Society' and refer to the Society history.

For Portal, Walker and Newport Cup  Reports for previous years, click on the appropriate links below: