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County Squad
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| Saturday 19th May 2018 | |||||
Eastern Counties Foursomes
Seacroft Golf Club Skegness Lincolnshire Sat/Sun 19th and 20th May 2018
This annual tournament comprises 9 Counties competing over 4 rounds of foursomes in teams of 10 players (5 two balls) with each county playing all the others.
As defending champions, Essex were obviously highly fancied. However with 6 regular team members missing from last year’s side, (4 of them playing in the Irish Amateur Championship at Royal County Down and our County Captain Andy May deciding that this would be an ideal weekend to get married!!) our own expectations were somewhat of a cautious nature.
New players drafted in this year were Shay McQueen, Jordan Slater, Ben and Josh Tobin and Ricky Lee.
Our first match on Saturday morning saw us drawn against Norfolk and BB&O whom we had soundly beaten in the league only 6 days earlier at home club Chelmsford. They were out for revenge and fielded a much stronger team on paper than ours.
A tough session on the demanding links at Seacroft with hard slick greens ended 2 ½ all with BB&O and 3/2 winners against Norfolk with two wins each for new guys Ben Tobin and Ricky Lee and the same for Jordan Slater and Michael Gilbert and 1.5 pts for old hands Will Percival and Callum Pipe, a 5 ½ point haul out of 10 which under the circumstances was a satisfactory start leaving us in joint 4th place behind Leicester & Rutland (7.5pts) BB&O (6.5pts) and Lincolnshire (6pts).
If we were to win this, the team line-up had to change, so in came Josh to partner brother Ben Tobin with Ricky Lee playing alongside stand in team captain Jamie Richards for the afternoon matches against leaders Leicestershire and Cambridgeshire. These changes paid dividends with only one loss all afternoon we ran out with 3.5 points from the Leicester game and 4 from Cambridgeshire giving a total for the first day of 13 points leaving us in second place, one point behind BB&O who had also returned 7.5 points.
All to play for and with good humoured banter flowing between Essex and BB&O officials the scene was set for a fascinating second day.
Sunday morning on another fine and breezy day brought Essex, Bedfordshire and Suffolk together. Suffolk who had scored a great 8 points yesterday, were only 1.5 points behind us, so it was important to keep our heads in front. The line up was unchanged and the lads played some majestic golf, beating Bedfordshire 4:1 and Suffolk 3:2. Another 7 points in the bag and with BB&O being restricted to 5 points, Essex went into lunch with a narrow one point lead.
The afternoon saw Curtis Knipes brought back into the side to partner Ben Tobin with Josh standing down. Opponents were Lincolnshire and Northants, both sides not having shown much form and we were thinking that just perhaps there was a chance of winning this thing.
The feeling was that 7 points would do the job and even 6 had a chance. The early exchanges were going our way and after 8 holes or so we were up in 6 games and all square in 2 with anticipation building.
Early winners for Essex and another 2 points to add to their 6 already gained giving a 100% 8 points were the pair Jordan Slater (current Keating Trophy winner) and past Henry Cooper Classic winner Michael Gilbert.
The euphoria however was short lived as Top match of Ricky and Jamie went to the last only managing half a point from the 2 on offer. Next Will and Callum succumbed to their opponents in both games loosing on the very last hole. Ben and Curtis next with a comfortable point against Lincolnshire and a hard fought half against Northants. 4 points in the bag and with Brandon and Shay birdying the penultimate hole to go dormy one up in both games it was looking like a 6 point haul for the afternoon which would give us a good chance to secure the trophy.
The last hole was a tough par 3 into a strong breeze and Shay’s tee shot missed the green right leaving an impossible chip which resulted in a double bogey and loss of hole to both opponents. So, only two halves giving us a 5 point haul which we were sure would not be enough to win. A group of audibly disappointed Essex players and officials cursing that last hole. Our only chance now was that BB&O hadn’t got the 6.5 points they would need to beat us.
Our last hole being the 10th at Seacroft meant a mile or so drive back to the clubhouse to register the result and find out our fate. Euphoria returned when we learned that BB&O could also only manage 5 points from their endeavours which gave Essex victory by a slender one point.
Back to back winners of this trophy for the first time and only our 4th win in the 64 years history of the event.
Stand in County Captain Jamie Richards thanked Seacroft Golf Club for their hospitality, fantastic course and superb organisation.
The hat trick is on!
Phil Hulse County team manager
Team:
Jamie Richards and Curtis Knipes (Abridge), Michael Gilbert Shay McQueen and Brandon Meads (Chelmsford), Ricky Lee (Boyce Hill), Will Percival (Orsett), Callum Pipe (Braintree), Ben & Josh Tobin (Basildon), Jordan Slater (Harwich & Dovercourt)
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