BRAMPTON PARK GC

The weather was perfect, warm, sunny and a very slight breeze for the final of the Anglian League U 18 boys final. Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire were contesting the final with both Counties thinking it could be the first time they have reached the final. Northamptonshire, however, had the knowledge that they were victorious in the Midland Boys County Finals and would be going to Kings Lynn to compete against 3 other Counties during w/c 24th August in the England Golf National County Finals.

This final follows the normal Anglian League format; four Foursomes in the morning followed by eight singles in the afternoon.

Northamptonshire were represented by

• Matt Myers (Northants County GC) and Tom Forster (Oundle GC)
• Callum Farr (Priors Hall GC) and Ben Jones (Brampton Heath GC)
• Luke Barney (Overstone Park GC) and Fergus Robinson(Northants County GC)
• Rhys Taylor (Northants County GC) and Steven Field (Brampton Heath GC)

The morning session got off to a great start for Northamptonshire. They won the first 2 foursomes with Myers and Forster winning 6&5 and Farr and Jones winning 7&5. In the third match Cambridge shire fought back for a 3&2 win over the Northants pairing of Barney and Robinson. However, the tailed wagged and Field and Taylor came off the 18th with a 2 up win.

At lunch Northants held a 3-1 lead and went into the afternoon singles feeling very optimistic.

Cambridgeshire, however, has other ideas. Although Myers, as lead, came in with a 5&3 victory, the Cambridgeshire lads played hard. Farr lost 4&3 and Jones had to withstand a birdie feast from his Cambridgeshire opponent, 8 birdies in 14 holes, to finally lose 5&4. As Ben said he played well not to lose 10&8.

The Northants President and the Team Manager were getting very nervous by mid afternoon. However, Forster calmed the nerves somewhat with a 4&3 win and this was quickly followed by Barney winning 3&2. Taylor went down 3&2 meaning Northants had to get a half out of the last 2 matches to take the title. Again the tail wagged and Robinson won on the 16th 3&2. This gave Northants the point needed to take the title but Steven Field was still battling his way down 17 arriving on the 18th tee all square. Two good drives down 18 left both players in good position. Steven unfortunately left his approach plugged under the lip of a greenside bunker while the Cambridgeshire player hit a superb shot to 4 feet to win the hole.

This meant the final score was Northamptonshire 7 Cambridgeshire 5.

Northamptonshire became Anglian League Under 18 winners for the first time in their history.

Fantastic. What a team performance. Every one of the Northants players won at least 1 point. Delighted, ecstatic, over the moon all these emotions flooded over the Northants team and their supporters.

But perhaps the biggest compliment came from Alistair Currie, PGA Professional at Brampton Park. He spoke to both Presidents after the match. He was high in his praise of all of the players from both Counties. He was extremely complimentary saying that they all showed courtesy and consideration to the Brampton Park members who were playing in front of them and were polite and extremely pleasant to all of the staff and members around the Clubhouse. They were a credit to both counties.

Congratulations to both teams on excellent golf played in the manner and style we would all advocate.

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