Warwickshire Golf

Warwickshire Seniors maintained their unbeaten start to the 2018 season with a hard fought win against Northamptonshire Seniors at Edgbaston Golf Club.

 

Northamptonshire were sitting proudly at the top of the East Midlands League with two wins from their opening two league matches, so it was an important match for both sides to put a marker down, as at this stage of the season, Warwickshire similarly sit atop the West Midlands League, with a similar record to their visitors with two wins from their opening two league matches.

 

The Edgbaston course was in marvellous condition with fast running fairways and greens. Both sides were greeted with bright sunshine from the outset with the weather remaining very warm for the entire day. Warwickshire suffered just one defeat in the morning greensomes and with the other five games yielding at least a half point, they lead by three and a half points to two and a half points at lunch.

 

The opening afternoon four ball match saw some exceptional scoring, particularly by the home pairing of Tony Allen and Martin Fell. The former produced two eagles on the back nine holes including one at the par five 17th hole to close out the match 2&1. Credit to the Northamptonshire pair to take the match to the penultimate hole, against the Warwickshire better ball scoring of eight under par for the 17 holes played. The visitors triumphed in matches two and four and Warwickshire won match three and with a halved game in match five all eyes looked to match six for the overall outcome. The Warwickshire pairing of John Mayell and Keith Turton were well behind after nine holes and indeed were still two down with four holes to play. However the tenacious fightback saw them prevail on the final green to give themselves and the team victory. The overall result was a win for Warwickshire by 10.5-7.5.

 

My thanks to Edgbaston Golf Club for their hospitality and the presentation of their fine course. To Captain Mike Abbotts and his Northamptonshire team my best wishes for the remainder of the season. Like ourselves, Northamptonshire will be very keen to maintain our league positions in order to qualify for the league winners play-off match to be held at Henlle Park Golf Club in October.

 

In closing, very well played to the Warwickshire team on a day that saw all pairings contribute to the scoreline, thank you for your commitment and time yesterday.

 

The County's next fixture will be the important league match against Worcestershire at Leamington & County next month.

 

 

Mark Reynolds

Seniors Captain