The U18’s season came to a disappointing end on Sunday 2nd August at the Springs GC in Oxfordshire. Knowing that they only needed 1 point from either match to qualify for the regional final, the team that took to the course had an average age of only 14 as many of the squad members were unavailable and included two players making their debut at this level. When one of our players failed to turn up the task was made even harder against strong team from Essex and a BB&0 team who fielded a number of players from the host venue and who made their local knowledge count. Despite a battling performance from the young squad who were there, we eventually lost both games by 6-2 to BB&O and 4.5-3.5 to Essex.
12-year-old Marcus Karim of East Herts made a fine debut bringing home 2 full points and Moor Park’s Oliver Ockelford continued his fine form with a win against Essex and a half against one of the BB&O players who call The Springs home. Alex Smith had another fine win against Essex but was up against it against his more experienced opponent from BB&O. Bishop Stortford’s Ollie Bannister took his opponent down the 18 holding a 1 up lead. He would eventually settle for a half point. In the other games, Leo Holmes, Freddie Buck and newly crowned Boys’ Champion Jack Wilkins found the going tough and recorded two losses each.
With two wins on the day, BB&O went above us in the final table and will now go ahead to the regional final against Norfolk and Hampshire in September.Â
