Warwickshire Golf
U16 Boys v Shropshire & Herefordshire
15th August 2019
Venue: Stratford Park Golf Club
Team
Alex Ford - Robin Hood (Captain)
Seb Cave - The Belfry
Oliver Clark - The Warwickshire
Charlie Lamb - Hearsall
Lucas Laurie - Robin Hood
Channon James - Kenilworth
Sam Easterbrook - Robin Hood
Niall Collins - Robin Hood
Finlay Stokes - Atherstone
Liam Scagell - Ladbrooke Park
After the victory over Worcestershire just four days earlier Stratford Park was again the venue for what we knew would be a tough match against an unbeaten team from S&H. The rain held off as the foursomes started, there was a stiff breeze and although we didn't know it at the time we were about to witness some outstanding matchplay golf.
The Captain Alex Ford and Seb Cave led the way for the third time. Despite Sebs' first tee shot barely making the ladies tee (I promised I wouldn't mention that) they recovered well and were soon in control. Their win secured the first point of the day against the number one pair from S&H.
In the second match Charlie Lamb and Sam Easterbrook were re united. This turned out to be a close match with both teams taking the lead at various points. However, the Warwickshire pair prevailed after a close match 2&1.
In match three Channon and Ollie were back together and started well. They were ahead coming to the 13th tee, a long par three with a difficult green. Chan teed of first and as his ball pitched and span the gallery thought he had holed out but it stopped just short. S&H could not match this and left their shot short, in what seemed to be an impossible spot. The Warwickshire birdie putt was given and the S&H player played his chip. It looked good as soon as it landed and rolled in to half the hole - a truly great shot. After this, Chan and Ollie could have felt the day was against them but rallied and eventually won 2&1 in a great game.
Lucas and Niall playing in match four ran into some great golf from S&H and were heavily beaten 5&4 despite their best efforts.
The final foursomes match saw Liam Scagell return to the team and partner Fin Stokes. The pair played some fine golf and found themselves two up with two to play. However, the pair from S&H did not give up and won both the 17th and 18th to earn a valuable half and keep their County in touch at lunch.
Warks 3.5 - S&H 1.5
Alex and Seb played in the first two matches against the pair they had beaten in the foursomes. The boys from S&H were keen to earn some points and in match two Seb was beaten 3&2 and Alex was pipped at the post and lost 1 down.
Not a great start to the afternoon and at that point we all knew the match could be close.
Charlie Lamb played in match 3 and was involved in a great game with neither player taking control.
Following him was Sam Easterbrook who did take control of his game early on as did Ollie Clark in match 5. Sam won 4&3 while Ollie played superbly to claim an 8&6 win.
Sandwiched between them was Chan who despite his best efforts found the afternoon frustrating and eventually lost 3&2. At this point with 4 singles matches completed S&H had claimed 3 of them and had closed the gap.
Lucas was playing in match 7 and appeared to be in control until late in the round as the match went all square.
In match 8 Niall was struggling and although he refused to give up he lost 4&3 - another point for S&H.
Match 9 was not going our way either with Fin 5 down with 5 to play. He then won three holes in a row and was threatening a remarkable comeback.
In the final game Liam was leading but the match was close.
During the day Jacob Parsons (u18s) had joined us and positioned himself behind the 18th to give me a running commentary on proceedings there while I stood behind the 17th with Richard Clark and Graham Barton. What happened then in the next half an hour was a credit to junior golf and all of the players involved.
In match three Charlie and been ahead but went to the last all square. Lucas was playing 17 but was all square. Fin had won another hole and was now dormie 2. Liam was 2 up with 3 to play.
On the final green Charlie had 15ft across the break to win the match. Jacob, watching with some of the boys and with me listening on speaker phone said "˜if he holes this ill jump in the lake'. Well, he did hole it to win 1up but Jacob remained on dry land.
In the meantime Lucas make a fine up and down on 17 holing from 10 feet to win the hole and go 1 up despite his opponent making 4 from the water with a fantastic up and down.
As Lucas started the 18th we watched Fin win his fourth hole in a row on 17 to get back to 1 down and Liam was now up dormie 2 with the match in the balance.
Lucas reached the 18th green and left himself, according to Jacob 25 feet for birdie, with his opponent just 6 feet from the hole in two. Everyone felt he had to hole it to win his match. I was still on the 17th watching Liam find the green with his tee shot as Jacob once again promised to jump in the lake if Lucas holed his putt. "˜Its on its way' he said after that I could not hear much else above the cheers as the put went in. Jacob once again remained on dry land.
Fin, despite his best efforts and a fantastic comeback could not complete it and lost 1 down.
Finally, a truly fantastic afternoon drew to a close with Liam winning his match 3&1 on the 17th to seal the win for Warwickshire.
The final score was 8.5 to 6.5 in favour of Warwickshire.
I would like to thank Charles and his fine team from S&H for a great day and possibly the best match I've been involved in.
Once again I would like to thank Richard and Graham for their support and also the boys for some moments I will never forget.
Simon Parsons
U16 Team Manager
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