JUBILEE TROPHY
(Best Under 21 Score)
Played for in conjunction with the County
Championship and is awarded to the leading player in the championship, who
is under 21 years of age on the 1st January in the year of the competition.
With so many players in good form, this year’s Championship always
promised to be a feast of good golf. Mr John Durham, The Warren club
President and owner said in his speech to the assembled spectators and
players … “The Warren was an old course, began in 1901 as a nine hole
converted farmer’s field, and that it had to be respected.” The
final scores demonstrated that it had produced a formidable challenge to the
best of Essex players.
The two days of sunshine golf got off to a good start when after the
first round the field was lead by two fifteen and one sixteen year old
golfers. Ben David (Colchester) scored 67; Mason Papple (Stock Brook)
scored 68; Devon Dunmore (Ballards Gore) also scored 68. Also
scoring 68 was Steve Jones (Canons Brook).
Apart from Steve Jones who is the most experienced of this group, none
of them figured in the top six at the end of the contest, but the fact of
those first round scores, augurs well for the future. At this stage
County Champion Matthew Southgate was in the following pack with a 3 over
par 73.
The second round on Saturday afternoon saw Steve Jones repeat his
2-under par morning performance to snatch the lead. It was in this
round that Matthew equalled the 20 year old amateur course record with a 65
score. Thomas Prewer (Three Rivers) was lying third with rounds of 69
and 70.
Sunday morning produced another outstanding round when Jack Heasman put
in a 4-under par round of 66 to share the lead with Steve Jones on a third
round total of 209. In third position, one shot behind, Matthew was
beginning to push to retain his title.
Four rounds of golf over two days demands both stamina and consistency and
most players
found it difficult to improve on their previous scores. One notable
exception to this was Reece Phillips (West Essex) whose final round of 68
(best of the afternoon) put him into fourth place.
In third place with a total of 285
came American University student and Boyce Hill Golf Club member
Stefan Cox.
Runner-up and
winner of the best Under 21s
contest, the Jubilee Cup, was
Jack Heasman
with 283.
During his victory speech the County Champion paid tribute to his closes
opponent saying what a tough challenge it had been to retain his title.
County President Mike Thirkettle, after thanking all his fellow club
members who had assisted in the staging of this competition, together with
the Durham family for donating the course and the green and catering staff,
expressed his wish that Matthew would go one better than last year when he
came second in the Champion of Champions competition at Woodhall Spa in
September.
The Esplen Trophy – The Club
Championship
This most striking of trophies, a solid silver golfer in full swing, goes
back to 1924 and is awarded to players of the club with the two best scores
over the first
two rounds of the county
Championship.
Runners-up this year were the Canons Brook pair of Darren Pegram and
Steve Jones with a joint score of 285.
Winners by only one shot were the West Essex pair of Ross Spurgeon and
Jack Heasman.
Remarkable facts about this Championship and the Champion
The amateur course record of 65 at The Warren Golf Club was set in 1990
by Matthew Robarts and the fact that it has gone unbroken for twenty years
is an indication of the degree of difficulty of the course.
Matthew Southgate is the first successful golfer to retain the County
Championship since Bret Taylor, another Thorpe Hall golfer, did so in 1998.
The 2010 Championship was two days of top class golf for those few 100
spectators who took advantage of the free entry. Well done the men of
Essex.
Played in conjunction with the Essex Amateur Championship and open to all
affiliated Clubs.
Stroke Play Competition decided over 36 holes played on the first day of the Championship. The winning Club being that which has the lowest gross aggregate of their best two players, in both the first and second rounds.
