It was a successful year for Glenalmond in the Halford Hewitt. After two first-round defeats in a row, it was important for the side to do well this year. The side was the strongest that we have fielded in some time, with John Bushell, Karl Frey, David Rennie, Niall Watson, and (all the way from Australia) David Primrose returning to the side, and with John Laird making his debut, the hopes were high, although the draw unfavourable. The side was led and supported from the sidelines by Society President Jim Patrick, and Society Captain, Brian Richmond, and the team were thrilled to see past captain (and almost hero of last year's Hewitt) Harry Morgan support the team on Thursday.

As reported, in some very strong winds, the side played some excellent golf to breeze past Uppingham (they don't like it ... insert your own joke here) and move to round 2 to play Cheltenham on the Friday morning. This was not expected to be straightforward at all, as Cheltenham were in the semi-finals in 2021. However, in the end, the scoreline of 4-1 flattered Cheltenham, as the bottom two games were declared honorable halves (but with Glenalmond looking like winning both of those games), with Glenalmond again producing excellent golf.

In a quirk of the draw, the top quarter of the draw plays the third round on Friday afternoon and not Saturday, meaning that Glenalmond were to play Tonbridge immediately after beating Cheltenham. Tonbridge are the top-ranked school at the Hewitt, and so it proved, as, despite some excellent golf, Glenalmond went down 3.5-1.5. Tonbridge went on to be runners-up at this year's event, losing to defending champions, Loretto, and Uppingham went on to win the plate. 

Tonbridge went on to have a close match with Watson's in the quarter-finals, with the match going to a deciding match going down the 19th. The Watson's ball ended up in the burn in front of the green, resulting in a "van der Veld". Needless to say, that did not end well, and Tonbridge took the hole and the match. 

Special mentions go to Sandy Gray and Tom Simmonds, who won all three of their matches, and Matthew McEachran and David Primrose, who went unbeaten. Double special mention to John Bushell who in attempting to emulate his hero Tiger Woods, played with a leg injury that turned out to be a torn achilles!

We are already looking forward to next year. For those that want to put it in their diaries now, the event is a week earlier next year due to a clash with Easter, so it runs from 30th March to 2nd April 2023, and the draw will be in early January. 

Please refer to the Halford Hewitt website for full results and historical information. https://www.halfordhewitt.org/

The Old Glenalmond Golfing Society