University of Lincoln’s golf team slumped to their second defeat of 2011, this time to high-flyers University of Birmingham by a score of 4.5 to 1.5 on Wednesday, February 9th.
After beating Premier Division favourites University of Central Lancashire only seven days before, Lincoln’s first team were certainly not going to fall easy to top of the table Birmingham.
As has been so prominent throughout the season for Lincoln, Rory Dixon and Alex Taylor were once again out first and were ready to take on the par 69 course at Edgbaston.
Dixon, who has been in great form so far this year, was not on top of his game and eventually lost out four and three. Taylor was playing in the second rubber of the first match against Daniel Beattie, who was once again looking to do the double over Lincoln.
However, Taylor managed to match his opponent, and after initially going three down through 12 holes he made four birdies over the last six and earned a half point for his side.
The middle match saw Nathan Cook partner captain Sam Buss. Cook, who was playing in his first fixture for the first team was, as expected, nervous on the starting tee. However, he played some exquisite golf given the circumstances and was unlucky to lose his fixture on the 406 yard par 4 final hole.
Captain Buss, who is usually an assured golfer was unable to replicate the success he has had in previous fixtures and struggled to find any consistency with his game. Buss, despite having a few late attempts, lost out to a two and one deficit.
So once again Jonny Elliot and Jamie Powell had the unwelcome task of going off the first tee knowing that they couldn’t even earn a share of the spoils for their team.
This evidently decreased the pressure on the two players, and Elliot found himself one up with only two holes to play. But the quality of the Birmingham number five shone through and he went on to win the required two holes, which meant another defeat for the downhearted Lincoln team.
Powell knew that whatever he did now did not matter and went out with the ambition of restoring an ounce of pride for the rest of his teammates. Tremendously, Powell flourished and took his rubber two and one on the 17th green after a late flurry of comfortable birdies.
There was no doubt this was another disappointing result for Lincoln. However, with the last two remaining fixtures at home to bottom sides, Loughborough University and Newcastle University, the prospects don’t look too bad for the first team.
They know though that if they are to progress to the National Finals for the third successive year, they will have to win both matches at Woodhall Spa.