Grafton Morrish Finals 2008
The team qualified for the 2008 finals at the Huddersfield GC at Fixby, back in May. This was the first time for ten years the team had qualified.
The finals event is played in Norfolk over the excellent links courses at Hunstanton and Brancaster during the last weekend of September.
In the first round we were drawn, yet again, against Eton at Brancaster.
We have been drawn against Eton on many occasions since our memorable match at the beginning of the eighties, where we lost the deciding match in the Halford Hewitt at the 20th hole at Royal St. George’s. We played them again in the second round in the 2005 event and most recently at the QE tournament in Edinburgh. We won the match in Edinburgh 3-0, so we entered the match with some confidence, albeit as major underdogs given Eton’s past success in the tournament.
The team gathered in superb accommodation in the village of Thornham on the Tuesday night, within easy striking distance of the pub and fine dining. The scene was set for a superb week. Practice day on the Wednesday in gorgeous sunshine brought some fine golf and the team was primed and ready for Eton.

First Round:  St. Bees v Eton 
In the top match, the new pair of Andrew Deall and John Currie made a fine start, winning 4 of the first 6 holes against ‘Ned’ and ‘Argie’. The Eton pair became ever more frustrated as St Bees played steady golf. Although Eton rallied towards the end, St Bees comfortably closed the match out 3 and 2.
In the second match Adrian Peckitt and Andrew Goodwin commenced with a St.Bees four at the first; pitching and putting from the boundary fence for a par start and going one up when Eton three putted. This unsettled the Eton pairing and they struggled to find their usual form.  Both pairings scrambled for pars for most of the round until the later holes when St.Bees took the advantage with a birdie 3 at the 11th putting us 2 up. This position was lost and regained before the 16th, when a well judged tee short shot left a full wedge to the green. In contrast the young Eton pairing were too close to the elevated green and, clearly feeling the pressure, only managed to knock the ball 5 feet. St.Bees took their opportunity to close out winning 3 and 2. Delightful! 
In the final game, Michael Coffey and Mark Morrison (making his OSBGS debut) met for the first time on the practice ground (an Old St. Beghian tradition that goes back to the days of Teddy Brown and John Younghusband) and had a most enjoyable match in good company but eventually went down 6 and 5.
Match result; St. Bees 2 Eton 1
ETON MESS DEVOURED BY ST BEES! 
   
Second Round:  St. Bees v Sherborne 
The team arrived at Hunstanton to find thick sea mist and play yet to commence. Several hours later the situation had not improved. Fortunately the fog lifted sufficiently for play to begin at 2pm. The committee deciding to play rounds 2 and 3 over 9 holes in order to allow the tournament to progress. The celebrations from the night before weighed heavy on St Bees and all three of the matches were quickly concluded with Sherborne winning 3-0.
Match result; St Bees 0 Sherborne 3

Grafton Morrish Qualifying 2009
Qualifying took place as usual at Fixby Golf Club, Huddersfield on Sunday 17th of May 2009. Format the same as usual – 3 x scratch stableford foursomes.
After our success last year, a strong team assembled confident of qualifying for the finals once again.
The weather this year was not so kind with rain & wind sweeping across the course throughout the day, making scoring extremely difficult. The top six teams qualified with scores ranging from 78-70 pts. St Bees struggled with the conditions & could only manage 61 pts. Better luck next year.