Shifnal prove the perfect hosts for young hopefuls
Shifnal Golf Club played host to the England Golf under-16 and under-14 girls’ championships.
The competitions were held over three days and saw England’s Chloe Tarbard claim the under-16 title while Spain’s Adriana Garcia Terol was crowned under-14 champion.
The parkland course was in fabulous condition and provided a suitably challenging environment. Slick greens and well-manicured fairways enabled the golfers to demonstrate some spectacular and competitive play while challenging their ability.
Tarbard, 15, from Royal Norwich, carded rounds of 75, 69, 73 and 69 to finish six under par with an overall total of 286 to win by five shots from England’s Maisie Whittal.
Terol took the U14 prize after completing 54 holes with a final round of 75, finishing two under for the tournament.
Local girl Lauren Crump, from Hillside, put in a brave performance in the under-14 event to finish tied ninth (287). Llanymynech’s Isabel Negron-Jennings took part in the under-16 competition.
Shropshire & Herefordshire under-16s finished second in their annual Tri Match against Staffordshire and Worcestershire.
Heavy rain made for testing conditions but the S&H youngsters performed impressively to beat Staffordshire 6.5-5.5 before losing 7-5 to Worcestershire.
S&H were level at 2-2 in both matches at lunch with Staffordshire and Worcestershire both struggling in the soggy conditions. Starting pair Harry Watts (Ludlow) and Zach Banks (Shifnal) won both of their games (2up against Staffs and 4&2 against Worcestershire).
The second pairing of Rhys Thomas (Llanymynech) and Elliott Fellows (Bridgnorth) found the going tough against both opponents and came in at halfway with a 3&2 reverse against Staffs and a 4&2 loss to Worcestershire.
The Wrekin pairing of Harry Slater and Jack Dirkin were good enough to win 2up against Staffs and force a half against the strong Worcestershire partnership to finish with 1.5 points overall.
The final S&H partnership, Brodie Miller and Ben Steventon, both from Telford, were robbed of a half on the final hole against Staffs, but managed to grab half a point in their clash with Worcestershire after a late comeback.
The afternoon session didn’t improve much weather wise. S&H started off with Watts, who, despite playing well in both matches, eventually ran out of steam and went down 3&2 verses Staffs and 4&3 against Worcestershire.
Banks, the County Youth champion demolished both of his opponents with a crushing 9&7 win over Staffs and a 7&5 thrashing off his Worcestershire challenger.
Thomas continued where he left off in the morning with two narrow defeats – Staffs 2&1 and 3&1 to Worcestershire.
Fellows faired no better as he lost 2&1 to his Staffs opponent and then 5&4 against Worcestershire.
Slater, aged 12, produced two impressive performances to win both his games, 4&3 over Staffs and a 6&5 thumping of a shocked Worcestershire adversary.
The strong finish v Staffs continued with Dirkin winning a one-sided game 6&4, although this result was tempered with a 3&1 defeat against Worcestershire.
Miller forced his Staffs opponent into submission, 8&7, and eventually overcame a stubborn effort from the Worcestershire man to secure a two-hole victory.
Steventon, once again at the rear of the field, was up against it after being down in both games, but gamely battled back to take both opponents down the last. A deserved half point ensued against Staffs, while a narrow loss by one hole against Worcestershire took the gloss off a battling performance.
Worcestershire overcame Staffordshire 8-4 in the other fixture to underline their superiority.
Shropshire & Herefordshire’s first team kept their title hopes alive with victory over Staffordshire at Walsall Golf Club.
The morning foursomes ended all square at 2.5 points but S&H edged the afternoon singles 5.5-4.5 to win 8-7 overall.
The second team are on course for title glory after beating Staffordshire at The Herefordshire.
The morning foursomes went well for S&H as they bagged 4.5 of the five points available. In the afternoon singles, S&H won six points to secure a 10.5-4.5 success overall.
A good result against Nottingham will see the seconds win the league.
The county seniors played in the 10 counties Midland Golf Union Competition at Sandwell GC.
After winning the league this year the team were full of confidence but after two days of play S&H finished in third place after losing to winners Staffordshire and runners-up Lincolnshire.
Wrekin Golf Club
Seniors Derek Taylor Trophy Rd3, Division 1: 1 Mike Rawlings 35/7; 2 Phillip Parsons 34/13; 3 Alan Bywater 34/17. Division 2: 1 Peter Hewitt 37/25; 2 Phill Bailey 35/25; 3 Peter Gee 33/20.
