Shropshire & Herefordshire Juniors look to spring a Four Counties surprise
Shropshire & Herefordshire’s juniors are hoping home advantage can help them upset the apple cart in the biggest week of their season.
An eight-strong S&H Boys squad will take on Cheshire, Nottinghamshire and Lancashire in the Four Counties tournament at Shifnal on Wednesday and Thursday.
S&H have won the event just five times in 44 years – including the last time it was held at Shifnal in 1990 – and will be underdogs once again against traditionally stronger counties.
Charles Sievewright, chairman of S&H Junior Golf, said; “It’s always a big week and a tough challenge for us because the other counties are so strong, Lancashire and Cheshire in particular.
“Looking at the collective handicaps, Lancashire’s total for their eight players is eight, Cheshire’s nine and ours is 27.
“We will be big underdogs but we have pulled off some shock results in the past and that will be our aim again this week.”
The S&H team will be spearheaded by Oswestry youngster Tom Matthews and Wrekin’s Joe Blunden, who won the Spring Cup at Shifnal last month.
Hawkstone Park’s Jordan Evans will captain the team and is one of three Four Counties debutants on the S&H team, the others being Owen Reynolds of Lilleshall Hall and Matthew Jones of Oswestry.
The tournament gets underway with an opening ceremony on Tuesday lunchtime with all four teams also practising at Shifnal that same afternoon.
The official action sees two matches on Wednesday for each team and one on Thursday, under a round-robin format. Each match will be decided by seven scratch singles matchplay games.
Sievewright added: “It’s always a special week and the standard of golf will be excellent.
“Our preparation has been very good – we played the Spring Cup at Shifnal and are having a practice round there today so all the lads should know the course well.
“Hopefully there will be some advantage for us there and the lads can rise to the occasion.”
The action starts at 8.30am on both Wednesday and Thursday with entry free and spectators encouraged to attend.
The S&H team is: Jordan Evans (Hawkstone Park, captain), Joe Blunden (Wrekin), Owen Reynolds (Lilleshall Hall), Dani Hoof (Lilleshall Hall), Matthew Jones (Oswestry), Tom Matthews (Oswestry), Liam Williams (Burghill Valley), Cameron Probert (Burghill Valley).
