Test Match Score	United States	8	13	Great Britain

2012 Solomon Trophy

Preliminary events

The Solomon Trophy week kicked off Tuesday (10/9) with a Pro-Am — a new event — and the Presidents’ Matches, the traditional American-rules counterpart to the main test match.

Pro-Am winners James Death and Barbara Bidencope | Photo by Donna Finley

The Pro-Am matched eight Solomon “pros” — four members of each team — with sixteen “amateur” players, mainly from the Bald Head Island club but from as far afield as Australia. Alternate stroke doubles was chosen to give the “ams” an insider’s look at top-level thinking and execution. It also gave most of the ams a first-ever experience with test match conditions: lawns running at 14 Plummers. James Death and Barbara Bidencope won three straight games to win the Pro-Am.

For the Presidents’ Matches, the GB team faced a mixed US team of Solomon players Ben Rothman and Chris Patmore, along with Solomon alternate David Maloof, BHI member Harper Peterson, tournament manager Jeff Soo, and USCA District President Mike Taylor. The Americans started well in the doubles round, such that a 3-0 start seemed not unlikely at one point. But the GB players proved that flawless execution trumps tactics every time, winning the doubles 3-0. Singles was much the same. The lone bright spot for the US team was Mike Taylor’s gritty win against Marcus Evans.

At the opening reception and dinner, team players mixed with club members and Solomon Trophy supporters. The team orders were announced as follows:

USA

Doubles

1. Grimsley & Rothman
2. Bast & Huneycutt
3. Lamm & Patmore

Singles

1. Ben Rothman
2. Chris Patmore
3. Danny Huneycutt
4. Rich Lamm
5. Doug Grimsley
6. Jim Bast

GB

Doubles

1. Death & Mulliner
2. Evans & Maugham
3. Aiton & Burch

Singles

1. James Death
2. David Maugham
3. Jamie Burch
4. Keith Aiton
5. Marcus Evans
6. Stephen Mulliner

As usual, the doubles numbering is arbitrary, but the singles numbering represents order of merit. The event will begin with doubles: the #3 teams playing each other while the #1 teams play the #2 teams.

Reported by Jeff Soo