U14 FOUR COUNTIES

U14 FOUR COUNTIES

The under 14s 4 Counties championship took place at Alfreton Golf Club

Once again the host club were most welcoming and presented the course in great condition.

To explain the format of this event each of the counties plays one rubber against the other 3 counties over 10 holes. The squad is made up of 7 boys of which 6 play in each rubber. A win for a match in each rubber earns 2 points and a half 1 point, therefore 12 points are available in each rubber. The winners are the county which accumulates the most points over the three rubbers, hopefully that is as clear as mud.

In our first match, against Derbyshire, we started strongly with Harry Banner and Theo Nelson winning their games, after being down early on Leo Price salvaged a half but we lost the remaining 3 games to lose the rubber 7 points to 5.

Next up came Staffordshire, Harry and Theo again won their matches followed by victories for Joel Hall, Jack Grinter, and Heath Dixon giving us a 10 points to 2 victory

At lunch we were in the lead by 1 point from Derbyshire who had accumulated 14 points to our 15.

In our final match against Warwickshire Harry was out first again and completed his third 3 and 1 win. 2 defeats followed but a victory from Joel left everything in the balance as Derbyshire were up against Staffordshire. Despite there being no buggies I ventured onto the course just in time to see William close out a victory on the 9th and to see Heath marching down the 9th with a with a 3 and 2 victory under his belt.

I wasn’t sure if that 8 points to 4 victory was enough until I got halfway up the 10th fairway when I saw Pete Trotters’ beaming face. Our first victory in this event was achieved as we had beaten Derbyshire by 1 point.

A huge well done to all 7 of the boys, as usual they were a credit to the county

A big thanks to John Rawson (Derbyshire) and Stan Yeomans for organising the event, Pete Trotter for refereeing, Bob Gladden for starting and Richard Jeffs my right hand man

Also thank you to all the parents, grandparents, aunties and uncles (too many to mention) for their support

Gary Quibell