Oxford University secured its third consecutive victory in the Varsity Match against Cambridge after running out 9.5-5.5 winners of the 135th staging of the annual contest, which this year was held at Rye Golf Club in East Sussex from March 22-23.
Played over two days, the Full Blues match comprises five foursomes on the opening day and 10 singles on the second day.
Oxford took a narrow early lead when winning Friday’s foursomes 3-2, with wins from Josh Fallows & Oliver Brunt, Charlie Flaxbeard & Aidan Wong and Chris Little & Harry Thomas, while Cambridge secured their two points courtesy of wins by Jonathan Pinnell & Matt Roberts and Alex Mair & Chloe Royston.
The first match out in Saturday’s singles, which was played in breezy conditions, saw Cambridge captain Roberts level the overall scores with a win over rival captain Niall Curwen. But Oxford secured wins from Fallows, Little and Wong in the next three matches to take a 6-3 lead. The light blues then fought back with wins from Mair, a half from Royston and a win for Pinnell taking the overall score to 6.5-5.5, with three matches still out on the course.
However, the dark blues put the seal on a third win in three years when Brunt, Flaxbeard and last man Aaron Rose all won their matches to see Oxford run out 9.5–5.5 victors.
After 135 matches going back to 1878, the current tally stands at 66-61 to Oxford with eight ties. After its most recent victory, Oxford has now won 13 of the last 15 matches.
Rye Golf Club hosts the Varsity Match every five years, with other host venues including Royal Porthcawl, Royal Cinque Ports, Hunstanton, Royal St George’s, Royal Liverpool, Royal West Norfolk, Ganton, Muirfield, Aldeburgh, Formby and Royal Dornoch.
