Warwickshire Boys and Men’s Senior Matchplay Finals 2024 – Championship Report
This year’s Boys and Senior Matchplay final was scheduled for the last day of August and a beautiful summers morning greeted our finalists at Moor Hall Golf Club.
The Boys with the earlier start on the day playing a 36 hole final and the Seniors starting later in the morning playing their 18 hole final.
The Boys final would see Lennon O’Neill-Knibbs (Coventry Hearsall) play Spencer Tanner (Coventry). The Senior final would see Tim Cooley (Ladbrook Park) take on John Lawrence (Sutton Coldfield).
First to the Boys. In the early exchanges Lennon would take a two up lead after 4 holes, but in what was a theme for the day, Spencer would hit straight back and the match would be all square after 9. The back 9 in the morning see all the holes halved until Lennon finally broke the deadlock on 15 to take a 1up lead, only for Spencer to win the 18th and the pair go into lunch all square.
The afternoon would follow a similar formula to the morning, Lennon would be leading early in the round but an untimely 3 putt from Lennon on the 12th would return the match to all square.
Spencer would take the lead for the first time on the day on the 14th and when Lennon’s drive on 15 could not be found Spencer found himself with a 2 hole advantage he would not relinquish and would eventually close out the match with a hard fought 2 & 1 victory.
Onto the seniors final, Tim started well and took an early lead. This was extended to a 2 hole lead on the 8th when John’s approach went to the back of the green leaving the treacherous downhill putt on Moor Hall’s very fast greens. Tim would seize the initiative extending the lead to 4 holes by the 11th where John would hit back with a super birdie 2 on the par 3 11th hole to reduce the deficit. However, Tim was playing exceptional golf and would restore the 4 hole advantage on the next and go on to win the final by a 5 & 4 margin.
Our thanks go to Moor Hall Golf Club for hosting the finals and for presenting the course in such wonderful condition. My personal thanks to Mark Reynolds and Alastair Scott for refereeing both matches throughout the day.
L-R : Spencer Tanner (Coventry), Lennon O’Neill-Knibbs (Coventry Hearsall)
L-R : John Lawrence (Sutton Coldfield), Tim Cooley (Ladbrook Park)
L-R: Spencer Tanner (Boys Matchplay Champion 2024), Tim Cooley (Senior Matchplay Champion 2024), Stuart Bloxham (Warwickshire Union President), John Lawrence (Senior Matchplay Runner Up)
