The victorious AGW 2024 winning side, led by captain Peter Dixon (far right) winning for a first time in eight years over the Golf Foundation (Team AGW (from left): Ian Mullins, Damien Benstead, Colin Harding, Colin Callander, Adrian Milledge, Rob Perkins, Luke Warren & Peter Dixon)
An AGW team comprising six members and two guests ended an eight-year victory famine by finally winning the annual encounter with the Golf Foundation.
The AGW’s best result during that spell had come with a tied match on The Berkshire’s Red course in 2022 and this year’s meeting on the club’s Blue course saw them turn the tables with a 3 and 1 success.
The team included Peter Dixon, a past joint ETIQUS – AGW Golfer of the Year and back in the UK after spending the winter in Kenya, who in tandem with triple winning ETIQUS Golfer of the Year Colin Callander secured a resounding 5 and 4 victory.
Four-time AGW Michael Williams Hogget champ Colin Harding and triple ETIQUS Golfer of the Year Rob Perkins won by the same margin but Ian Mullins and one of two AGW guests, Damien Benstead, lost by a hole.
However, the current AGW Golf Captain Adrian Milledge and the team’s other guest, PGA tournament director Luke Warren, won 3 and 1 to seal the victory.
As always, and despite the handsome trophy now sitting alongside the replica model of Highbury in the captain’s office, there was more to the occasion than winning.
Not least the Golf Foundation’s superb hospitality, generosity, camaraderie and the quality of the venue. In that respect, thanks are due to Foundation trustee and Berkshire member Alan Watkins, GF chief executive Brendon Pyle, plus the club’s green-keepers and catering staff.
Thanks also to the AGW members and guests who played in a match that, aside from paying £5 to enter the Golf Foundation’s Play in the unleashyourdrive.golf-foundation.org competition (*See below) cost them nothing but proved highly rewarding.
Adrian Milledge
*The competition runs until the end of May and offers 40 spots to play in a final at Wentworth with the top three qualifying for the pro-am prior to September’s BMW PGA Championship at the same venue. To enter visit: www.golf-foundation.org