Ben’s Cheshire bid falls short at Notts
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE County Golf Union were great hosts for the annual Four Counties Tournament at Hollinwell Golf Club who provided a fine course and excellent hospitality for the junior boys teams of Notts, Shropshire and Herefordshire, Cheshire and reigning champions Lancashire.
CUGC President elect Tony Gregory (Stockport Golf Club) enjoyed the experience as dis Cheshire Junior Captain Ben Currie (Wilmslow GC).
Tony said: The Dinner was an interesting occasion as it was the 50th Four Counties Competition. There were several people at the dinner who had played in the inaugural event 50 years ago including Cheshire coach Peter Barber.
“Unfortunately Peter played for Lancashire at that time! He has since his defection from Lancashire seen the light!
“Letters from several people that had played and gone on to achieve success in golf were read out.
They valued the Tournament and Camaraderie of County golf including Sandy Lyle, Ian Woosnam, Lee Westwood and Tommy Fleetwood etc.”
On course it was a onehorse race as Lancashire won all of their three matches in convincing style to retain the title and trophy.
Cheshire went into the second day looking to beat Lancashire after winning one and losing one of their first two matches.
Cheshire Captain Ben Currie (Wilmslow) led from the front by winning his match but the only other point came from Dan Myers (Reddish Vale) who halved his match to see Lancashire home by 5.5-1.5.
On the first day Cheshire lost out 4-3 to Notts with the points coming from Charlie Ward (Wilmslow) and Aaron Mohun (Delamere Forest) with halves for Ben Currie and Daniel Hayes (Bramhall).
Cheshire had their only win by 4-3 over Shropshire and Herefordshire by 4-3 with wins from Dan Myers, Charlie Ward, Spencer Davies (Wallasey) and Daniel Hayes.
It was an enjoyable competition with plenty of lessons to be learned by all players.
It is to be hosted by Shropshire next year at Bridgnorth 11 12 13 April 2023.
The Greenkeepers Trophy at Avro was won by Neil Flood with 40 well clear of John Wetherell 34 and Ivan Robertson, Peter Walker and John Isherwood, all 33.
Neil Flood made it a double as he won a Midweek Stableford with 34, one more than Gordon Fetherston and Gareth Roberts, both 33.
A Stableford for Avro ladies was won by Carol Lund with 29 from Elaine Biglen 26 and Janet Scull 25.
The 9-hole winner was Ann Burgess with 15, two more than Rosie Taylor.
A Texas Scramble at Davenport had convincing winners in the fab four of S Lancashire, J Culley, J Tweedy and R Oliver with 49.0 from J Dunn, P Cross, G Harman and C Oake 53.0.
A singles bogey for Mottram Hall’s men had division one led in by Rob Jones on +6from Brendon Poynts +3 and Craig Watson and Jay Jain, both level par.
It was a family affair at Prestbury in the Father and Sons Greensome Stableford with N and J Baglin first past the post with 45 from W Caldwell and M Jackson 42 and N and J Wilcox and E and K Galloway, both 41.
Prestbury ladies played a 9-hole Stableford and Karen Keen was on top with 18 from Joan Crouch and Moira McGrath, both 15 and Glenys Smith 14.
The Macclesfield Men’s Annual ParBogey was a close affair with Paul Carrollwinning on + 3 from Paul Elfflaender, Gio Vigorito and Shaun Leonard all +2.
The Junior Pros’s cup at Macc had Daisy Ward top of division one with 72 from Austin O’Connor 82.
In division two Jack Leon was hot with 62 from Archie Baguley 69 and Aidan Rooza 70.
The Friday Frolics at Styal had a clear winner in Cole Brown with 23 from David Griffiths 19 and Richard Brown 18.
Next day a singles Stableford had division one starring Simon Maxwell with 41 from Cole Brown 40.
In division two it needed a cpo on 38 to see David Offland home from Richard Armstead, one more than Steve Watson.
The Sunday Open to All Stableford had Robert Chapman winning a cpo on 40 from Joe Cartwright, three more than David Foster.
The Styal Ladies Summer Cup qualifying Stableford was won by Frances Purdy with 19 from Pat Chadwick and Janice Whalley, both 15.
Chorlton Golf Club has hosted the Manchester Alliance White Cup for Mixed Pairs for many years and the switch of the BB Stableford competition to Sunday from Wednesday proved to a big hit with a good attendance.
A Chorlton pair have not won the coveted trophy since 2011 when pro David Valentine and his excellent partner Gail Hegarty led in.
But local knowledge paid off for mother and son pairing of Sarah and Adam Miles(Chorlton) who led in with a good haul of 41 points.
It was only just enough to beat off a strong challenge from three other pairs on 40 points.
Winning the cpo were Paul Thorney and Alicia Celphane-Wilson (Flixton) from Cholton pro Dave Mackinnon and upcoming club Captain Gerry Gee with Leigh duo Mark Riley and Julie Ramskill just squeezed out of the prizes.
The outstanding work done by the new Chorlton greens staff drew justifiable praise from all of the players as well as their stunning medieval clubhouse for providing top class hospitality.