Boys U14s 4 Counties – Match Report
Under 14 Four Counties Championship
The Team:
Archie Williams (Ladbrook Parch Golf Club)
Byron Clements (Moor Hall Golf Club)
Harry Walton (Moor Hall Golf Club)
Theo Clegg (Stratford Upon Avon Golf Club)
Sam tooth (Moor Hall Golf Club)
Harper Reay (Atherstone Golf Club)
Seb Hemmings (Olton golf Club)
The four counties championship is played at Alfreton Golf Club, the format is three scratch Matchplay matches between Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire played over 10 holes.
The lads arrived early and tucked into their bacon and sausage sandwiches and were ready to hit the course
First up for Warwickshire was strong on paper favourites Staffordshire who had two scratch players in their team, this didn’t phase the lads, the team WhatsApp group was in full flow with updates coming in from all over the course and the standard of golf was excellent.
The first session ended in a draw for us with 3 points each. In the other match Derbyshire managed to beat Nottinghamshire 4 – 2. This put Derbyshire top with 4 points, Warwickshire and Staffordshire joint second on 3 points and Nottinghamshire fourth on 2 points
Next up were the early morning leaders Derbyshire, Seb sat this one out and Harper came into the team for this match. Things were looking good from the off with Warwickshire up in the first two matches early doors with both matches going all the way round to the last hole, unfortunately things didn’t go our way on this hole, Archie and Byron both losing the last hole to birdies which mean Archie halving his match and Byron losing one down meaning Derbyshire took a 1.5 lead. News then came in that Harry had finished his match with an emphatic win to tie the match up.
Three matches were left out on the course, news came in that Sam had lost his match to put Derbyshire up by a point, Theo came up the last and managed a half putting Derbyshire 3-2 up with Harper left on the course who managed to win the 9th to put him 1 up with hole to go, Harper bombed a drive up the last, wedged it on to the green and two putts was enough to secure the victory meaning another draw and 3 points to team Warwickshire.
The other result between Staffs and Notts ended with a big 5-1 win for Staffs putting them top of the league which after match two looked like this
Staffordshire 8
Derbyshire 7
Warwickshire 6
Nottinghamshire 3
Up next in match 3 we faced Nottinghamshire, we knew we needed a big win and for Staffordshire v Derbyshire to have a close match.
The team went out and we started fast being up in the first three matches very early, Archie at number one was then given his match due to the Notts lad falling ill, Byron and Harry were both flying and closed out their matches to put Warwickshire 3-0 up, the three matches left out on the course we were all square in two and down in one, updates were also coming in that the match between Staffs and Derbyshire was very tight. The lads who had finished their matches were back out on the course supporting their team mates but unfortunately we were unable to win in the last three matches meaning the final result against Notts was a 3-3 draw.
The final league standings were
Staffordshire 11.5
Derbyshire 9.5
Warwickshire 9
Nottinghamshire 6
We just came up short, unbeaten as a team for the full day, well done lads.
Id like to thank Graham Barton for supporting the lads all day and making sure they hit their tee times, a big thank you to all the parents who took the time out of work to bring the lads and support them.
A great day and hopefully we can build on this and bring the four counties back to Warwickshire next year.
The Match Cards from the event can be found here : Match Cards
