Rustington GC reach third round for first time

On their own exposed course, Rustington have something of a reputation in the Sussex Inter-Club Matchplay championship.

Both Haywards Heath and Mid Sussex have tasted defeat there. Haywards Heath in 2004, the year after winning the Trophy, and Mid Sussex in 2007 to an unfancied outfit.

Latest victims in the second round of the PAV i.t. Trophy are six times winners, The Nevill, who made what turned out to be a fruitless journey from Tunbridge Wells.

Hightlight of Rustington's 6-5 victory was Gary Salt, the only scratch player in the team, halving with Todd Adcock, the Sussex champion.

Salt, the centre manager at Rustington, gave the team a massive boost after the foursomes were tied 2-2. After winning in the morning with Luke Green, Salt was fired-up for the head-to-head with Adcock and, when they shared the honours, Rustington had to withstand a determined challenge from The Nevill as Richard-Fung On and Mike King beat Graham Snelgrove and Ben Parker respectively.

The crucial match, however, involved Tim Osman, a seven handicapper who thrives on matchplay. He sank a 20-foot putt on the final green to get a half with David Blundell and send Rustington through after Rob Theobald accounted for Doug Rubashaw, Adam O'Sullivan trimmed James Thain and Dave Massey's 3&2 defeat of Gary Learoyd put the home team back on track.

That putt by Osman avoided a play-off as the teams were level on countback.

Steve Wyatt, Rustington's team captain for the last three years, said: "If it had come down to a shoot-out, we would have put up Gary Salt again against Todd Adcock. We are here as a starting point for new golfers and have no more than a dozen single figure handicaps.

"After a while they usually go off, and we are struggling to keep low handicap players.

"Those that stay do so because the atmosphere is great and that reflects in the results we have had at home. They all deserve credit and I was particularly pleased with Luke Green who won with Gary in the morning, and then got a good half against Bryan Hodder."

Wyatt added: "Reaching the third round is a major achievement, and one the squad should all be very proud of.

"We know that we will always start these fixtures as underdogs, but home ties work very well in our favour.

"Rustington is not a large club, and doesn't have the luxury of very many single figure players to call upon. But, we are fast developing a reputation for turning over strong sides at home.

"This is the third year that I have been running the side now, and each year the guys are growing in confidence. There is a belief among the squad that we can progress further still."

Experience and youth, when successfully blended, can achieve much as Highwoods discovered to their cost at Littlehampton.

A 9-3 win for the home club saw the debut of junior Ollie Kenning who was on the winnng side morning and afternoon. With Lee Murley he lunched with a 5&4 foursomes win to give him extra confidence for the singles and then went out to beat Alan Ross 4&3.

Sam Dix, the Wales under-15 selection won by 7&6 at the expense of Dave Monkhouse and record the best figures of the day.

Simon French from Goodwood in his first appearance for Littlehampton, beat Roy Stephenson 4&3.

Nick Kalli, a former Littlehampton junior who tried his luck as a pro on the minor tours in America and was re-instated last year, lost by two holes to Brian Stewart.

Steve Graham, the Littlehampton team captain and former England international stressed how difficult conditions were for both teams: "It was a two or three-club wind and when it blows off the sea it really does blow."

Littlehampton can be assured of plenty of wind if the weather turns foul as their next port of call is Pyecombe in the third round.

Worthing Golf Club marched into the third round with an 11-1 win over Lindfield on Saturday.

The youngsters from Lindfield hardly had a look-in. After trailing 3-1 in the morning, they surrendered all the singles which they will put down to experience.

Such is Worthing strength that they can afford to leave out power players like Scott Nightingale and Darren Renwick.

The big test for Worthing comes in the third round when they visit East Sussex National.

One-sided matches are only to be expected in the early rounds. Copthorne whitewashed Boars Head 12-0 and Willingdon, the reigning champions, sent Selsey packing 11.5-0.5. Lewes were on song at Slinfold Park to the tune of 10-2.

Haywards Heath won all the foursomes at Holtye when a violent storm left the greens on the nine hole course at Cowden under water.

At least four inches lay on the ninth green and the others were also unplayable and that looked like the end of play for the day.

Plans were laid to go again the following day or week when, incredibly, the clouds lifted and the Ashdown sand foundation on the greens soaked up the water and melting hail stones and a start was made to the singles at 3pm.

When the match finished, with Haywards Heath 10-1 winners, it was 7.35pm.

On paper, Royal Eastbourne looked comfortable 8-3 winners over Seaford, but home team captain Mike Wishart put the record straight: "The score flattered us. We had a bonus in the foursomes when it seemed the matches would finish 2-2.

"Matt Wilson and Joel Tadman, our first pair, were two down with six to play but came back to get a half so we went in to lunch in front."

The Royal made the most of a good start in the singles, Ali Hall-Jones beat county player A.J. Richardson by two holes. When Hall-Jones lost the 16th after being level, he found the green at the difficult par three 17th and into a strong wind while Richardson went out of bounds.

Adam Brown was dormy three at 15 and went on to win 3&2 by which time the Royal were ahead on countback.

At centenary club Eastbourne Downs, Ifield trailed 3-1 in the foursomes. But they dominated the singles to win 7-5.

Juniors Steve Penston, Tom Cousins and Mitch Farrer mastered the strong wind, Penston winning 2&1 against Downs team captain Ken McCreadie, Cousins good value for a two holes win, and Farrer nicking the last two holes to get an important half.

West Sussex, without Colin Jones and David Alderson, were not greatly pressed to beat Royal Ashdown Forest 8-3. Now that Jamie Donaldson is an amateur again, his value to the team cannot be over estimated, and he and Max Farrant had it all their own way in a 7&6 foursomes victory over John Davies and Nick Dorey that paved the way for overall victory.

Of special interest to West Sussex is that Mike Borissow, a keen member, sponsors the championship through his PAV i.t. Services company.

West Hove's 6-5 passage to the third round at Singing Hills was aided by a change of plan by Tom Coulson who previously indicated that he was unavailable. With Lewis Jackson on holiday in America, West Hove could have ill afforded to lose both players.

Coulson and Mark Gully, going out third and fourth, both won their singles to stiffen the middle order against a strong challenge. The foursomes went West Hove's way by 3-1 with Dan Milligan, the Sussex under-15 champion, figuring in a 9 & 7 romp. Play was anything but easy for all concerned with preferred lies in the wet conditions.

Pyecombe entertained Chichester without regulars Gary Richardson, Andy Gay and Spencer Elliottt but carried too much fire power for Chichester.

From 3-1 up in the foursomes, Pyecombe improved to 10-2 snuffing out any chance of a revival by Chichester.

Only Stuart Barber provided a singles victory for Chichester when too good by 3&2 for Trevor Greenfield. A player of Barber's class was not to be denied as he and Harry Boyd won their foursomes by two holes against Julian Deanes and Michael Stoner.

Seaford Head's team captain Simon Steele can be well satisfied with progress to date.

A 10-2 defeat of The Dyke was notable for debutant Craig Poulter winning by 7&6 over Nick Brooman while Matt Smith overcame Marcus Opoku by 6&5 in the top singles.

Another impressive win was Steve Walters coming in with a 4&3 victory under his belt.

Steele, a detective based in Hove, was pleased to extend all due hospitality to fellow officer, Sgt Robin Fuller, The Dyke captain. But this was a case of The Dyke coming quietly.

Two hefty foursomes wins in a morning that ended 2-2 set the scene for East Sussex National's 8-4 win over Bognor.

Ben Newsome, the Sussex Open champion with fellow county player Luke Cornford handed out a 5&4 defeat to Tom Lee and Liam Maskell, while Lee Drew and James Doswell were 7&5 winners over Andy Field and Brian Arnell.

All credit for Bognor's fight back when James Ashman and Dave Hicks got home by one hole against Mike Espach and Brad Cox and Nathan Parke and Harry Pyett emerging by 3&1 against Phil Davey and Chris Jess.

The singles, however, saw ESN take the first five matches. Only Andy Field and Liam Maskell scored points for Bognor and the final countback was 40-16 in favour of the home team.

Mid Sussex were never in trouble at home to Beauport Park when the Hastings club made a welcome return to the competition.

Six singles victories for the Ditchling club were by convincing margins. Joel Newsome, son of Sussex captain John and brother of ESN's Ben, beat Jack Baker by 6&4, while dad halved with Kim Baker.

Rob Wheeler shone for Beauport with a 3&2 defeat of Rob Griffin.

Wellshurst found it hard going at Crowborough Beacon. A 9-2 home win was no surprise but Wellshurst managed wins for Matt Devlin and Scott Rodgers after losing all the foursomes.

Adrian Isaac was in particularly mean mood, winning his singles by 9&8 with Josh Watton on the receiving end.

2nd round results: Seaford Head 10, The Dyke 2; Rustington 6, The Nevill 5; West Sussex 8, Royal Ashdown Forest 3; Eastbourne Downs 5, Ifield 7; Mid Sussex 9, Beauport Park 3; Singing Hills 5, West Hove 6;Worthing 11, Lindfield 1; Holtye 1, Haywards Heath 10; Crowborough Beacon 9, Wellshurst 2; Willingdon 11, Selsey ; Royal Eastbourne 8 Seaford 3; Slinfold Park 2, Lewes 10; East Sussex National 8, Bognor 4; Littlehampton 9, Highwoods 3; Pyecombe 10, Chichester 2; Copthorne 12, Boars Head 0.

3rd round draw (April 26): Haywards Heath v Copthorne; Royal Eastbourne v Seaford Head; Ifield v Crowborough; West Hove v Mid Sussex; Rustington v West Sussex; Worthing v East Sussex National; Lewes v Willingdon; Pyecombe v Littlehampton.

Plate preliminary round draw (April 26): The Nevill v Ham Manor; Boars Head v Tilgate Forest; Hassocks v Chichester.

1st round (May 10): Slinfold v Sedlescombe; Peacehaven v Cowdray Park;

Seaford v Eastbourne Downs; Singing Hills v Hill Barn; Boars Head or Tilgate v The Dyke; Cooden Beach v Royal Ashdown Forest; Selsey v Holtye; The Nevill or Ham Manor v Bognor; Wellshurst v Piltdown;

Waterhall v Brighton & Hove; West Chiltington v Chartham Park; Beauport Park v East Brighton; Hollingbury Park v Highwoods; Hassocks or Chichester v Foxbridge; Mannings Heath v Sweetwoods Park; Dale Hill v Lindfield.