U14s & U12s Junior Boys match v Cambridgeshire

(left to right) Seb Welch, Ollie Golby, Thomas Peachey, Zac Dunkley, Elliot Saunders, Isaac Richardson, Josh Bland, Isaac Wakefield,Harry Odell, Jack Fowler, Krishan Panesar, Oscar Cope, Riley Hammond, Daniel Rees.

NORTHANTS U-14 / U-12 BOYS WIN AN 11-10 THRILLER at Peterborough Milton (May 5th, 2024)

The County Boys' annual Friendly match vs Cambridgeshire produced another thrilling finish with our Northants U-14 and U-12 teams gaining a nailbiting overall victory 11-10. The teams played off handicap this year with the usual format of 9 holes Pairs Greensomes matches followed by individual singles games over the back 9. Having won at Ramsey 10-8 in 2023 and lost at Wellingborough in 2022 11-7 we were all set for another close match. Once again our teams included many new Juniors all of whom made brilliant debuts in this year's match at Milton.

The good weather and the course made for a fantastic day. Cambs led at half way winning their Greensomes matches 4-3. Our lead U-16 pair Isaac Wakefield & Daniel Rees won their match on the 8th but new boys Riley Hammond & Oscar Cope were the only other pair able to win their Greensomes. Krishan Panesar & Jack Fowler halved, as did Ollie Golby & Elliot Saunders. Unfortunately, in the last match, a 3 putt on the 9th meant a loss for Isaac Richardson & Seb Welch, who had played brilliant golf to lead early on, so CAGU took an overall lead 4-3 at the half-way stage.

In the 14 singles matches that followed there was very little to choose between the two teams. Matches often went to the last putt on the last hole to make the final result really difficult to predict. 

Riley Hammond gained our first point early on with an emphatic win, and Junior Captain Josh Bland lost to CAGU's lowest handicap player Oliver Smith soon afterwards but all the other matches were incredibly close. Isaac Wakefield produced an amazing recovery shot on 18 to hit the green and win 1 up. Oscar Cope and Krishan Panesar both had great matches which finished all square and at this point CAGU still led overall.

It was left to our Under-12s to battle away in the remaining games, many of which were extremely close. Harry Odell, playing some outstanding shots, was the first to gain an important point and next came a vital win from Ollie Golby – who made a superb birdie on hole 16.  Finally rookies Elliot Saunders, Thomas Peachey, and Seb Welch – all closing out their matches on 17, gave the County Boys an overall winning margin of just 1 point. Final score 11-10 to Northants.

Every Northants Junior played their part in this narrow victory and conducted themselves sportingly. I'm sure all the players, whether they won, lost narrowly, or halved will have learned a lot about matchplay, teamwork, and especially the importance of working on their putting and short game. Playing competitive golf on different courses where the greens vary so much is really important. It's good to see our squad getting involved in Junior Opens and League matches and attending Coaching. Good luck for the rest of the season.