The Daily Mail Foursomes is a national knockout competition played to a matchplay foursomes format with half combined handicap allowance.  Johnny Reay (Vice Captain) and Neville Gardner (Club Champion) are representing Stoneleigh Deer Park GC this season.

 The story so far:

 Round 1

We were give a bye in round 1 and so progressed straight to round 2.

 Round 2

We were given the tough task of an away match at near neighbours Kenilworth.  Our opponents were two young lads who had just returned from a golfing break in Spain and we were giving them one shot, so this was going to be a difficult game. 

 We were given the first hole when our opponents hit their second shot out of bounds, but we then lost the second and halved the third holes.  There then followed 3 key holes all won by Stoneleigh; we managed an excellent up and down from the left hand bunker on the par three 4^th (Johnny holing a tricky 6 foot putt) with the Kenilworth pair 3 putting when on the green; a perfectly played par 4 on the 5^th winning the hole where we were giving Kenilworth their one shot; and another well holed 6 foot putt from Johnny and a 3 putt from Kenilworth.  We were then 3 up after 6.

 The Kenilworth pair won the 8^th, Stoneleigh the 9^th, Kenilworth the 10^th and Stoneleigh the 11^th, meaning we were still 3 up.  A winning birdie on 13^th saw us move to 4 up and solid pars on the 14^th and 15^th saw Johnny and Nev victorious by 5&3.

 Round 3

We were delighted to be awarded a home draw in round 3 against Windmill Village, who had beaten strong pairings from Copt Heath and Finham in their previous two matches.  Fortunately we would receive three shots as our opponents played off 5 & 6 handicaps.

 Despite giving considerable distance on our opposition, our solid and steady foursomes play saw us all square after the 5^th.  Nev’s tee shot on the 6^th was a sweetly struck 3 iron to 6 feet and this unsettled our opponents as they were giving us a shot – they missed the green from the tee and their second shot and  conceded the hole to put us 1 up.  Two lengthy putts for halves from the visitors on the 7^th and 8^th and a bogey from ourselves on the 9^th meant the match was all square at the turn.  It was time for us to increase the pressure on the back 9. 

 A conceded birdie to us on the 10^th, followed by 4 straight gross pars (a net birdie on 14^th as we received a shot) saw us dormie 4 up on the 15^th tee.  Johnny held a tricky 6 foot putt for par to halve the 15^th, meaning we won the match 4&3.

 The draw for round 4 will be conducted on Monday 20^th May and we are hoping for another home tie.