Tylney Park pair picked for England duty (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Tylney Park pair picked for England duty

1:00pm Monday 22nd October 2012 in Sport

TYLNEY Park golfers Neil Dawson and Kevin Dupree helped England to claim third place at the grand final of the 2012 Four Nations Golf Challenge.

Teams of 12 from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland did battle over two days at The Oxfordshire, coming up against 40mph winds as well as stiff competition.

Current Tylney Park GC captain Dawson, who lives in Wild Herons, Hook, and Dupree, club captain in 2011, teamed up to work their way through a number of qualifiers and make the England team.

Once at The Oxfordshire, England were drawn against Wales in the semi-finals, with Dawson and Dupree playing the final match.

Rain postponed play until the afternoon and the Tylney Park duo’s match was a close affair, all square after 13 holes.

At that point the team manager told them that England were losing – and Dawson and Dupree upped their game accordingly, making a couple of birdies to win the next three holes and the match 3&2.

The tie ended drawn at 3-3, meaning a play-off the following morning. Dawson and Dupree were not involved as England’s top pair lost the first sudden-death hole, meaning Wales went through to the final while England were left to face Scotland in the third and fourth place play-off.

Dawson and Dupree’s match was another close one, only one hole separating them and Scotland all the way.

The Scots led by one hole going up the 18th and won when one of their players, a scratch golfer about to turn professional, holed out from 15ft to save par – but England won the tie 4-2 to claim third place.

Dawson, who plays off a handicap of four, said: “We really enjoyed it.

“There was a lot to take in over the three days but it was good fun and very well organised.

“We both played well to be fair, considering the conditions were not what we are used to.

“It was very tough and tiring in the wind and rain but we were pleased with how we played.

“It was very competitive. We had good fun in the evenings and a few drinks but on the golf course everyone took it very seriously.”