JOINT CHAMPIONS SET TO CLASH AGAIN IN BOYS COUNTY FINALS
Essex and Yorkshire, joint holders of the English Boys County
Championship, will renew their rivalry when this year’s
finals are staged over three days at Little Aston Golf Club,
near Birmingham, on 29th - 31st August.
The South East and Northern champions shared the title a
year ago at Broadstone and will seek to go one better this
time, although the youngsters from the other competing counties,
Gloucestershire and Warwickshire, the South West and Midland
champions, will also be attempting to get their hands on the
title.
Yorkshire have been the most successful county in the competition’s
history. This will be their 12th appearance in the finals
and they have won it outright four times before the tie with
Essex in 2004.
The Northerners will field five internationals - Matthew
Evans and Daniel Willett at boys level, and Tom Hesketh, Nick
McCarthy and Dale Smith at under 16s - in their line-up. Evans,
18, is the current Yorkshire boys captain, while 17 year old
Willett is the county’s boys champion, and Adam Best
is the Northern Boys under 16 champion. Just three of the
side, Evans, Smith and Willett, were members of the team at
Broadstone a year ago.
In their regional qualifier at Ramsey on the Isle of Man,
Yorkshire came out on top by 16 strokes, Adam Hodkinson being
the individual winner. However, he is not in the team for
Little Aston as he is off to college in the United States.
Essex have been in five previous finals, winning at Sandwell
Park in 1997 before last year‘s tie. Their team would
have included Oliver Fisher, the 16 year old who became the
youngest ever Walker Cup player recently, but he is competing
in the US Amateur Championship.
However, the South East champions will field four of last
year’s successful side in Daniel Brooks, Rhys Piper,
Ross Spurgeon and Dale Whitnell. Essex also include Ben Montgomery,
the current county boys’ champion, while Brooks, last
year’s boys champion, finished joint runner-up in the
Carris Trophy and was a quarter finalist in the British Boys
Championship.
Both Gloucestershire and Warwickshire have appeared in four
previous finals but neither has managed to win the title.
Gloucestershire were runners-up in the inaugural final in
1986 and third on three successive occasions from 1999, while
Warwickshire were runners-up to Essex in 1997, third in 1998
and fourth in 1994 and 2001.
The Gloucestershire team includes Chris Wood, 17, who is
enjoying a successful season having won the County Junior
Championship, the South West Counties Boys Championship, and
the St Andrews Boys Championship, while he is also the county’s
junior captain. Also in their line-up is Ross Langdon, 18,
the 2004 Gloucestershire Junior champion and South of England
Boys champion, and Chris Lloyd, last year’s Gloucestershire
under 15 champion.
Warwickshire include Andrew Sullivan, the current County
Boys champion, who fired a course record 65 on his way to
victory at Sutton Coldfield, equalled by Dale Marson, another
member of the side. The youngest member of the side is 16
year old Jack Sant.
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 29th August, Gloucestershire
will play Warwickshire and Essex meet Yorkshire.
Teams:
ESSEX
Daniel Brooks (Mill Hill)
Jack Hiluta (Chelmsford)
Craig Lockwood (Channels)
Ben Montgomery (Frinton -on-Sea)
Rhys Piper (Rochford Hundred)
Ross Spurgeon (West Essex)
Dale Whitnell (Forrester Park)
WARWICKSHIRE
Rob Browning (Maxstoke Park)
Chris Dougill (Stoneleigh Deer Park)
Andrew Evans (Maxstoke Park)
Dale Marson (Rugby)
Jack Sant (Ladbrook Park)
Andrew Sullivan (Purley Chase)
Neil Taylor (Rugby)
GLOUCESTERSHIRE
Joseph Campbell (Cotswold Hills)
Oliver Glaze (The Kendleshire)
Ed Kennedy (Broadway)
Ross Langdon (Gloucester G&CC)
Chris Lloyd (The Kendleshire)
Chris O’Hare (Broadway)
Chris Wood (Long Ashton)
YORKSHIRE
Adam Best (Cleveland)
Matthew Evans (Rotherham)
Sam Haywood (Rotherham)
Tom Hesketh (Oakdale)
Nick McCarthy (Moortown)
Dale Smith (Saltburn)
Daniel Willett (Rotherham)
|