Matchplay gets the chop

One of the biggest golf tournaments on the Shropshire & Herefordshire calendar has been postponed for 2008 - due to a lack of interest.

The County Matchplay Championship has attracted just 22 entries, despite the closing date being extended by 15 days.

And the competitions committee of the Shropshire & Herefordshire Union of Golf Clubs have ruled that figure is insufficient to run the knockout competition.

The tournament was first staged in 1966 and has run every year since.

Shrewsbury-born former US Masters champion Sandy Lyle claimed the title in 1973 and 1974, while ex-Ryder Cup player Peter Baker put his name on the trophy in 1985.

David Park, another of the county's European Tour professionals, was also a back-to-back winner in 1993 and 1994.

"For a number of years we have been trying to get the numbers who enter the matchplay up," said committee chairman Ian Murray.

"We had decided as a committee that we would run it with 25 entries this year but even that number was barely acceptable.

"You could say we got close to the 25 so we should have run it, but we came up with a number and we decided to stick with it.

"If the players can't support these competitions it's not viable to run them - it's a great shame.

"We will definitely aim to run the competition next year and hopefully the enthusiasm will be there to get the numbers up."

By James Garrison

The last 16 players were due to attend a finals weekend at Burghill Valley on August 9 and 10.