Warwickshire Golf
English Men’s Senior County Finals - Final Standings and Report
Team Representing Warwickshire:
Rob Soen – Captain (Walmley)
Warren Blaydon – (Kenilworth)
Tony Allen (Maxstoke)
Steve Creed (Stratford on Avon)
Tim Cooley (Ladbrook Park)
Ken Spencer (Bramcote)
Shaun Young (Nuneaton)
Martin Fell (Ladbrook Park)
Karl Smith (Handsworth)
Rothley Park Golf Club in Leicestershire was in fantastic condition and with strong winds forecast for the three-day competition it was going to be a tough test for all the teams involved.
Day 1 – Warwickshire V Kent
A dry day but with the winds as strong as predicted the foursomes matches got underway. A tough morning for Warwickshire, Warren and Tony sealing a great 4 & 3 win giving us our solitary point to be 2 -1 behind at lunchtime.
The singles underway it looked for a period that the Warwickshire team were in with a good chance to turn the tie around, with Steve Creed and Tony Allen winning their respective matches. But a few missed chances on the final holes meant the match just slipped out of Warwickshire’s grasp.
Day 2 – Warwickshire V Yorkshire
Ominous grey skies greeted the players on day 2 with the strong wind not subsiding in the slightest. Yorkshire are a very good team and this match has provided some classics in previous finals so the stage was set for another epic encounter once again.
Warwickshire started well with Steve and Tim earning a hard fought half point and then Warren and Tony again playing fantastic foursomes golf to get another point on the board for Warwickshire. The last match would go to Yorkshire, so it was all tied at lunch and all very much to play for.
Just as the afternoon singles started the rain finally arrived and boy did it arrive. The conditions were brutally tough for the first hour of afternoon play, but despite this Warwickshire were slowly creeping on top in most matches.
Yorkshire though were not about to give up and a late surge from their side provided them two separate 1up victories to leave the overall match score tied.
Day 3 – Warwickshire V Wiltshire
Beautiful blue skies arrived for the last day, which seemed fitting for what was going to be a close final day. Unfortunately, with only a half on the board Warwickshire could not be crowned champions but a second place finish was still achievable.
The foursome went Wiltshire’s way – with Warwickshire gaining just a half point from Steve and Tim.
Wiltshire with their tails up sensing a chance to lift the trophy came out all guns blazing in the singles. Despite this Warwickshire fought amazingly and once again four of the six singles matches would be decided on the last hole. Wins for Warren and Steve and another half point for Tim (Tim who played all six matches, five of which went the full 18 holes) meant the match had gone Wiltshire’s way. The result was not quite enough for Wiltshire though as Yorkshire had done enough to be crowned Champions for 2022 in the other game.
Although the result wasn’t as desired by the Warwickshire Team, Rob and the players put up a great fight and were the only side not to lose to the eventual winners Yorkshire, a match where with a little more luck on the closing holes the result could have gone our way.
Plus, we must not forget reaching the finals is a great achievement, beating all our midland rivals in the process.
2022 has still been an extremely successful year for this team, with more to come in 2023 I’m sure.
Chris Brown
Warwickshire County Secretary
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