For the second year running Sunday saw Falmouth Golf Club contesting both the Frank Wills Salver scratch to 12 handicaps and the Cornish Bowl (13 to 20 handicaps) trophies, writes Phil Jones.

This year’s venue for the finals was the fantastic St Enodoc Golf Club where the Wills side took on Truro Golf Club whilst the Bowl Side opponents were Whitsand Bay Golf Club.

The Bowl side were up against a very strong Whitsand Bay side who had only lost two individual matches from 15 on their way to the final.  Falmouth were giving a total of 13 shots to their opponents across the five matches.

Falmouth were led out as they have been all season by Bert Coulls and Steve Briers, followed by Ronnie May and Adam Cooper, Chris Pellow and Glen Fortune, and Andy Parry and Mike Davies. Falmouth’s final pairing was Tom and Adam Pryor.

Master of Ceremonies, Cornwall Golf Union's, Chris Pountney got the match underway at 8.40am with Falmouth having the honour off the tee.

Falmouth made a great start with Coulls and Briers winning their match 4 and 2 despite losing the first hole.

Falmouth’s second pairing May and Cooper had a tough front 9 and were 3 down at the turn, they battled well on the back 9 and started the 18th only one down but they couldn’t manage to win the hole and Whitsand leveled the match.

Attention then turned to matches 4 and 5 where both Falmouth pairings were struggling, with Parry and Davies 5 down through 9 and the Pryor brothers 4 down through 9.

It looked like another comeback was on the cards for the Pryor brothers after winning the 10th hole giving a shot, but it wasn’t to be Falmouth’s day with the brothers losing 5 and 3 on the 15th and Parry and Davies losing 6 and 5, while their opponents carded an impressive 8 pars over the 13 holes played.

Falmouth’s last pairing out on the course, Pellow and Fortune, battled well to take their match down the 18th but it was Whitsand’s day and Falmouth were beaten 4-1 by the much better team.

Although the result did not go in Falmouth’s favour the team can hold their heads high in getting to final for the second year running.

Falmouth’s Wills Salver side were looking to make history in retaining the trophy that they won at Bude Golf Club last year.

Captain Pete Lewis named an unchanged side for the 36 hole final that got underway at 8am, with Truro Golf Club having the honor off the tee.

Falmouth’s side were led out by Ben Browning and Steve Robbins followed by Harry Drewett and Archie Fox, Ashley Bennett and Dave Blizzard, Luke Geach and Callum Davis, and final pairing Matt Morrison and Will Sercombe.

Falmouth were giving 10 shots over the five matches and were in for tough task against a very experienced side from Truro GC. After the first 18 holes the match was going in Truro’s favour with Browning and Robbins 4 down, Drewett and Fox 2 down and Morrison and Sercombe 3 down.

Falmouth were fairing better however in their other two matches, with Bennett and Bizzard 7 up and Geach and Davis 8 up at the halfway point.

Things didn’t improve in the first match, with Falmouth’s pairing of Browning and Robbins losing their match 8 and 6, giving Truro the first point of the match.

Falmouth then took control of the match 2-1 with convincing wins from Geach and Davis at 8 and 7, and Bennett and Blizzard at 6 and 4.

Focus then turned to match two, where Drewett and Fox had levelled their match on the 11th after being 2 down in the morning. With only two matches left out on the course the crowd was building around the two youngsters, but rather than faze them it brought out some of the best golf I have seen, with the pairing being 4 under gross on their second round.

They then went on to win holes 14 and 15 going 2 up with 3 to play; after halving 16 a half was required to retain the Wills Salver.

Drewett teed off on the par 3 17th to the front of the green, where Fox then rolled his putt up to the hole, where the match was conceded, giving Falmouth the point the needed to retain the trophy.

Morrison and Sercombe then put the icing on the cake winning their match on 17 giving Falmouth a 4-1 victory and making history for the club in retaining the Frank Wills Trophy for the first time.

Attention now turns to Sunday where Falmouth Golf Club play Perranporth Golf Club in the semifinal of the Presidents Trophy at Trevose Golf Club.