Result: Essex 8 – Rochford Hundred 4
Although this was a
‘men against boys contest’ we should not be too surprised that the boys came
out on top.
To qualify for the Leslie Wood team your
handicap has to be higher than 7.4 whilst if you want to be selected for a
Keith Mitchell, team manager, reports:-
Rochford Hundred
Leslie Wood Team provided the opposition and their course for a hard fought
match on Sunday 16 March.
Faced with atrocious weather conditions with a
fierce Northerly wind and icy rain both teams played some excellent golf
that was impressive under the circumstances.
Without doubt all players would rather have been
inside watching the football on television but to everyone’s credit all
players saw their games through to the bitter end.
For the Essex boys
the event was also a practice on the Rochford Hundred Course for an inter
county match with Hertfordshire, but the weather conditions did make this
somewhat irrelevant as conditions should be very different in May!
The boys now have experience of the course at
it’s most difficult, but should have gained encouragement from the match by
attaining an 8-4 victory over the home side.
Winning for the Essex
Boys were
Devon Dunmore (Thorpe Hall), Tom Kisby (Nazing), Owen
Rivett (Canons Brook), Chris Payne (Harwich & Dovercourt), Tom
Barker(Channels), Tobias Tay-Smith (Orsett), & Fred Harrington (Orsett).
Partick Amoroso (
Winners for Rochford Hundred were Roy
Nesbitt, Jack Rosen and Mark West, with halves for Mark Skinner and Ken
Sims.
The Essex Boys would like to thank
Rochford Hundred Leslie Wood team for the valuable experience that the match
provided.
The Keith Bass Trophy
U14 Four Counties Championship
The Keith Bass Trophy is played for over 27 holes by Under 14 boys from the counties of Bedfordshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex. Eight boys are selected form each county coaching squad so the standard of entry is very high.
This year’s event was hosted by Norfolk at Weston Park Golf Club, near Norwich so the journey for the Bedfordshire and Essex boys meant an very early start, and it was obvious that some of the boys suffered because of the circumstance.
The Weston Park course was an excellent golfing challenge being tree lined and requiring careful club selection and course management. Many of the competitors had potentially good cards ruined by hitting balls into the trees and then trying to be too ambitious with the rescue shot.
The morning nine holes displayed a clear leader with Tom Barker (Essex from Channels GC) scoring 39 with several boys close behind on 40. This score was very good taking into account the misty conditions and the lack of run on the fairways.
The afternoon round of 18 holes displayed very clearly that a competition is won or lost on the last nine holes.
A super round of 73 (one over) with a back nine of 2 under (two birdies on the last two holes) placed Reece Francis (Essex – North Weald) at the top of the field with a total score of 116 (43 + 73). Reece is therefore the current holder of The Keith Bass Trophy.
In second place, James Taggart (Essex – Frinton) playing his first representative match for Essex, played consistently well shooting 40 in the morning round and 78 in the afternoon (118) This was made very impressive as James plays off 12 Handicap and scored a last back nine of one under par. To add to his difficulties he was playing in the last grouping.
The handicap prize went to Patrick Amoroso (Essex – Chigwell) with 40 in the morning and 79 in the afternoon (119 – 10 = 109). Again Patrick shot an excellent back nine of 37.
The remainder of the Essex boys taking part were Devon Dunmore (Thorpe Hall), Joshua Cardy (Channels), Ben Spong (Canons Brook) and Tobias Tay-Smith(Orsett).
A most enjoyable day with Essex boys taking all the prizes. Keith Bass attended the whole days’ play and was on hand to present the prizes following an excellent meal served by Weston Park GC who deserve our grateful thanks for making us so welcome.