YORKSHIRE DEFEND BOYS TITLE AT COPTHORNE
Yorkshire will seek their fourth victory in the event when
they defend the English Boys County Finals next week in Sussex.
They meet the other regional finalists, Kent, Lincolnshire
and Wiltshire in the three-day contest at Copthorne Golf Club,
near Crawley on 1-3 September.
Yorkshire has dominated the men’s county champions
for the past decade and will defend the title at Formby at
the end of September. Now their future stars have the opportunity
to make it two in a row, something no county has achieved
since the competition began in 1986.
The North Region champions, who will be making their tenth
appearance in the Finals, will field a strong line-up containing
two internationals, Daniel Denison and Andy Town. Denison,
18, earned his first cap in the European Boys Team Championships
in the Czech Republic last month and he was also a member
of the victorious England team in the recent Boys Home Internationals.
Town was capped at under-16 level against Scotland two years
ago having finished runner-up in the North of England Under-16
Championship. The 18-year-old is the current Yorkshire Boys
and Northern Boys champion, finished third in the Sir Henry
Cooper Junior Masters in Kent and reached the quarterfinals
of the English Amateur Championship at Alwoodley earlier this
month.
John Parry, the 16-year old from Harrogate, won the under-18
title in last year’s North of England Youths Championship
and also lifted the Duke of York Trophy in the Golf Foundation
finals. This year he finished seventh against the professionals
in the Yorkshire Open at Ilkley.
The team also contains Daniel Dunn, the Reid Trophy winner
in 1999, and Christopher Hanson, a semi-finalist in the recent
British Boys Championships at Hoylake. Yorkshire won their
regional qualifier by 18 shots from a strong Cheshire side
on a windy day at Silloth-on-Solway with an average score
of 74.4.
Denison, Parry and Town were members of the Yorkshire team
that won the Boys County title last year, while Kent, who
finished runners-up, have two survivors of their 2002 team,
Tom Sherreard and James Smith.
Sherreard, 16, is the South East Boys under-16 champion and
was runner-up in the South of England Schools Championship,
while Smith, 18, has also enjoyed a successful 2003. The Kent
Boys champion went to Japan with England for the World Boys
Team Championships and to the Czech Republic for the European
Boys Team Championships while he also won the Tillman Trophy
at Moortown in Leeds.
The South East Region champions will also field Robert Clark,
who won the South East Boys Championship at Sunningdale, Jordan
Gibb, the South of England Boys champion, and Daniel Williams,
runner-up in their boys’ championship.
Kent, who won the South East qualifier by five shots from
Sussex, has never won the Boys title although they have appeared
in two previous Finals. They were fourth in 1991 at Princes
and runners-up to Yorkshire last year.
Lincolnshire have made just one previous appearance in the
county finals, in 1989 at Wilmslow when they were fourth.
They will start as outsiders this time but their team is an
emerging force after a year of group coaching.
The team contains the county boys champion in Robert Harris
and last year’s order of merit winner Michael Pearson,
the county boys captain. Another team member, Adam Wainwright
enjoyed a successful run in the British Boys Championships
at Hoylake, claiming the scalp of boy international Tommy
Hunter before exiting in the third round.
In the Midland Qualifying at Beeston Fields, Lincolnshire
got home by two shots from fast-finishing Leicestershire.
Wiltshire, who have twice finished runners-up (1990 &
‘92) and third once (1993) in the county Finals, field
a side containing their county boys champion, Gary Haugh,
and their Age Group champion in Miles Mackman. Sam Elkins,
who reached the second round of the British Boys at Hoylake,
is the county match play champion, while Matthew Swales was
the Bowood club champion last year and won The Players Club
championship in 2003.
The South West champions won their regional qualifier at
Stover by 15 strokes from Devon.
The County Finals are contested on a round robin basis, each
match consisting of three foursomes and six singles, all over
18 holes. In the first round of matches on 1 September, Kent
will play Lincolnshire and Wiltshire meet Yorkshire.
Teams:
Kent
Robert Clark (Faversham)
Jordan Gibb (Rochester & Cobham)
Toby Morris (Cherry Lodge)
Tom Sherreard (Chart Hills)
James Smith (Sundridge Park)
Will Telfer (London Beach)
Daniel Williams (Broke Hill)
Wiltshire
Sam Elkins (Salisbury & South Wilts)
Gary Haugh (Broome Manor)
John Haugh (Salisbury & South Wilts)
Miles Mackman (Broome Manor)
Ashley Monaghan (Cumberwell Park)
Richard Scarrott (Wrag Barn)
Matthew Swales (Cumberwell Park)
Lincolnshire
Robert Harris (Woodhall Spa)
Andrew MacDonald (Cleethorpes)
Matthew McDonough (Forest Pines)
Michael Pearson (Woodhall Spa)
Jonathan Pyle (Holme Hall)
Dan Seaman (Gainsborough)
Adam Wainwright (Gainsborough)
Yorkshire
Daniel Denison (Howley Hall)
Daniel Dunn (Pannal)
Christopher Hanson (Crosland Heath)
Matthew Marsh (Richmond)
John Parry (Harrogate)
Thomas Robinson (Middlesbrough)
Andy Town (Northcliffe)
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