Writer
As March 15th draws ever-nearer, the Golf Club are stepping up their preparations for a day of what looks to be tough competition for them at The Glasgow Taxi’s Cup. Despite going in as underdogs, being a BUCS division below Caley and two below Strathclyde, Club Captain Ben Davies still hopes they can retain their TC title for the third year in a row.
With the weather slowly improving and Student Championships on the horizon, the club will be playing a lot more golf over the coming weeks to warm up for the competition. Davies recognises that his team might not be seen as much of a threat to the opposition, but hopes this will ultimately help them to snag the victory: “there’s two types of golf, and they might be better at stroke play, where you just play the course, but we are better at playing the opposition.”
And it looks like the rivalry on the day could be even more heated this year, as Davies explained: “I’d like to win it again especially because I know the captain from Strathclyde this year. He’s an older brother of one of our members so there’s a bit of sibling rivalry. I’d like to take him. I’d love to see the match-up between their captains as well, that’ll be good.”
Despite not having picked their final team of 8 for the GTC yet, Davies identifies a couple of players who he is confident will help Glasgow succeed on the day: “Our first team captain Peter Hasson just doesn’t ever lose really. And Michael Henderson is a bit of a rogue guy, his handicap is not the lowest but he always goes out and wins. So I’d say they’re pretty safe, we can count on them to go out and get us a point.”
This years’ BUCS season is looking steady for the club, who are on track to defend the Scottish Conference Cup title they claimed last year. Despite missing out on promotion into Division 2, and remaining a league below Caley and Strathclyde, Davies still has high hopes for the GTC. He told the Guardian: “I’m definitely looking forward to it, it’s such a good day. I don’t think it’ll be the pumping we handed out last year, but we have a chance. Two years ago it was a 4-4-4 draw, but we won on holes – so we might be able to sneak it again this year.”
Despite these modest apprehensions, when asked outright how he predicted his club will perform on the day, Davies boldly stated: “I think we’ll win 8-0-0. I’ll just be extremely cocky and see what happens!”
So it seems that Glasgow Uni Golf Club will be one to watch come March 15th. They certainly won’t be letting their lower seeding phase them, and will be fighting harder than ever to retain their title from the past two years. Whether they can step up to the plate on the day remains to be seen, but, judging by Davies’ confidence, it’s definitely not off the cards.
