Shropshire juniors can draw comfort from encouraging display
Shropshire & Herefordshire's (S&H) under-14s and under-16s had to settle for a draw against Cheshire after being pegged back at Hill Valley.
The morning session foursomes became a war of attrition between the two teams, with the opening match ending in a 5&4 loss for Elliott Fellows (Bridgnorth) and Harry Watts (Ludlow), playing against a scratch handicapper and Tommy Fleetwood's stepson Murray Craig.
However, S&H soon pegged them back with a 2&1 victory for Ben Steventon and Stanley Lin (both Telford).
Back came Cheshire with a narrow win 2up against Ed Muttit Jones (Ludlow) and Brodie Miller (Telford), but Jack Dirkin (Telford) and Charlie Slater (Wrekin) managed to steady the ship with a battling half, before the final pairing of Rhys Thomas (Llanymynech) and Harry Slater (Wrekin) came home with a 4&3 win to keep the scoring level.
The S&H boys started on fire after lunch with three consecutive wins from Fellows (3&2), Watts (3&2) and Steventon (4&3) to forge ahead.
This was soon complemented by a battling half from Stanley Lin to keep S&H in control, but Cheshire were not finished and battled back to take the next four singles to take a one-point lead into the final 2 games.
Thomas was leading coming down the 18th and had two chances to take the contest before Cheshire managed to scramble a half on a tricky green, but Slater handed out a 5&4 thrashing to his opponent to halve the match, 7.5-7.5.
The S&H men's first team played their first match of the season against Warwickshire at Oswestry, losing 9-6.
The morning foursomes went Warwickshire way, with the only point for S&H coming from Jon Devereux and Alex Allen.
The single matches started with Tom Kerr fighting back from two holes down after seven to win 4&3.
There were also wins for Nick Evans and Sean McCarthy and four halved matches from Ian Jenner, Allen, Devereux and Craig Simmons.
The overall result was a win for Warwickshire 9pts-6pts
The S&H men's second team was away to Warwickshire's seconds at Handsworth, also going down 9-6.
The morning foursomes went well for S&H, with Jon Houlston & Jack Edwards, Dave Fish & Darren Humphries, Cam Probert & Morgan Radziejowski all winning and the duo of George Wall & Glyn McKenna taking a half.
The momentum shifted in the afternoon singles when Warwickshire took 7.5pts from a possible 10 to give them the win.
Golf returns
Arscott
Men's Medal. Division One: 1 Neil Clarke 79-11=68; 2 Dave Rogers 81-12=69; 3 Philip Lowrey 82-11=71. Division Two: 1 Graham Humphreys 92-21=71; 2 Karl Jones 91-19=72; 3 Robin White Law 93-21=72. Division Three: 1 Richard Saunders 95-26=67; 2 Peter Oakley 98-27=71; 3 Kelvin Ward 97-26=71.
Seniors Stableford. Division One: Tony Corfield (10) 39pts; 2 Amrit Singh (21) 36pts; 3 John Tenison-Collins (11) 36pts. Division Two: 1 Andy Digby (23) 38pts; 2 Alan Drury (30) 37pts; 3 Chris Clayton (26) 37pts.
Ladies Coronation Foursomes: 1 M Cumming & L Bentick 40pts; 2 G Cackett & E Griffiths 32pts; 3 C Cooke & L Riley 32pts.
Llanymynech
May Medal. Division One: 1 Annie Weetman nett 68; 2 Chris Evans nett 72. Division Two: 1 Sian Whiteoak nett 73; 2 Ros Phillips nett 74. Divisin Three: Joan Brice nett 76; Jean Barlow nett 85.
Wrekin
Rhoda's Little Mon (18-hole Stableford). Division One: 1 Ron Walker 35/18; 2 Tony Spiers 35/18; 3 Alan Denver 34/9. Division Two: 1 Kelvin McLeod 39/22; 2 Derek Hammond 37/25; 3 Jeff Fletcher 35/24.
