The beginning of July signals a time for the junior boys who have been competing far and wide in prestigious individual tournaments to switch their mindset to being part of a team as they take part in the annual England Golf Boys County Qualifier, which this year was hosted by Ham Manor Golf Club, Sussex. All 11 counties arrived with high hopes of replicating the outstanding 2025 Hertfordshire team achievement and qualifying for the national final.
Like many courses around the country, the course was baked and there was a premium in keeping your ball on the fairway if players were to get the ball close on the compact greens. Six players playing 36 holes in one day with the top 5 scores from the morning and afternoon sessions is a big ask especially when the temperature is closing in on 30 degrees but the boys from Hertfordshire did a sterling job at trying to retain the title that had been won the previous year.
Despite having an inexperienced team in terms of number of players who had played in this event before, after the morning wave, Hertfordshire found themselves sitting in 2nd place following rounds of one under 69 from Ben Sessions, the recent Sir Henry Cooper Championship winner, a level 70 from Nick Curran who himself had come 2nd the previous weekend at the England Golf U18 Championship. Another level par round of 70 from Moor Park’s Oliver Ockelford and a matching pair of 74s from Jaego Gardiner of Porters Park and Alfie Akers of Brickendon Grange who finished his morning round with a birdie eagle finish, gave the team an overall total of 375 (+7) and seven shots behind early pace setters Hampshire.
As the afternoon wind began to pick up, Nick got off to an incredible start and covered the front 9 in an incredible 4 under par 32 which he then followed up on the harder back 9 with an admirable level par 34 for a two round total of 136 (-4). Ben and Jaego both returned rounds of 2 over par 72s, Alfie another round of 74 and Hanbury Manor’s Ronnie Seagroatt’s round of 76 gave the team an afternoon total of 360 (+10) and an overall total of 717 (+17) and an eventual 4th place finish as both Surrey who shaved an impressive 15 shots and Essex who bettered their morning score by 11 shots in the afternoon both passed us on the leaderboard. Our congratulations go to Hampshire were the overall winners and will now go forward to represent the South East Group in the Boys’ County Finals in late August.
Despite the obvious disappointment, there was still cause for celebration as the aforementioned Nick Curran from Sandy Lodge was crowned the individual winner of the David Neech Trophy with his score of -4 and thus ensured that that title would return to Hertfordshire once again after Louie Bloxham had won it last year. In fact, this is the 6th time in the last 12 years that a player from Hertfordshire has won the individual element of the event and Nick follows in the footsteps of other county stalwarts such as Max Hopkins, Danny Daniels, Nick Ward and George Durkan, and with it gains automatic entry into the 2026 Carris Trophy later in the summer.
