Competitions

For the first time in their history Essex are the English County Champions. On the final day of the competition Essex met Wiltshire, both sides having won against Cumbria and Staffordshire.

After the morning foursomes Wiltshire were 2 matches to 1 up, therefore Essex needed to win 4 of the 6 afternoon singles.

Early big wins for Jack Winer and Matthew Southgate 7/6 and 5/4 were balanced by close losses from James Webber and Ross Dee, 1 down and 2&1. A two hole win for Andrew Shakespeare left the championship to be decided by the last match on the course between Ross Spurgeon and Wiltshire’s Ben Loughrey. Ross after losing the 15th hole to put the match all square, halved the 16th and 17th, so the pair, watched by a large crowd of mainly Wiltshire supporters, started down the final fairway level pegging.

The Wiltshire man was in the better position off the tee. However, he hooked his second shot out of bounds and with it went Wiltshire’s hopes. He found the green in four but took two more to get down for a bogey-six and with Ross on the putting surface near to the hole in three, he conceded the game and with it overall victory.

It was a jubilant Essex skipper, David Miller, who said: “I’m delighted. We knew if we drew the match we’d lost on game points so we had to win. I told the players to go out and just play their normal games and my four strong players got the wins, but midway through the afternoon I felt it was getting away from us. “But I’m so pleased for the boys. I’ve been with them for three years and we’ve been a close knit squad with a great spirit. It is nice to win but it is tough to lose and I felt sorry for Ben Loughrey in the final match, that’s when the pressure kicked in.”

At the presentation ceremony the biggest round of applause was for the Chipping Sodbury course and the greenkeepers. The club is set in the foothills of the Cotswolds and the splendid condition of the greens and fairways matched the natural beauty of their surroundings.