REPORT FROM GERALD DUDDY – TEAM MANAGER
U18s make SE Group final by narrowest of margins
Langdon Hills near Basildon was the venue for the final league U18 games of the season against a much-depleted host in Essex and a young and fast improving Middlesex team hoping for a first win of the season.
With the disappointment of the previous round of matches assigned to the past and with the two opponents and BB&O having already played this week, we knew exactly what we needed to overhaul Essex to qualify for the final. Nothing more than two wins and a Middlesex victory over Essex would be good enough.
With a number of players missing this match due to other commitments through their club representation or holidays, we fielded a team consisting of some junior county stalwarts in the likes of Ed Wade, Patrick Donovan and the ever-reliable Castor Morris, who was once again the anchor man, just as he has been throughout the season, along with some younger members of the u16 squad. There was also a season debut for Hanbury Manor’s Will Lyons.
Ed and his Essex opponent both lost to Middlesex with several holes to play, and despite being 3 down quite early, Ed fought back against Essex and took the game to the final green before losing by 1 hole. Patrick Donovan from Welwyn Garden City GC provided a convincing win against Middlesex but lost narrowly to Essex. The two u16 squad players, Jamie Jackson and Alex Coombes-Brown gave good accounts of themselves. Jamie won the last hole to beat Essex but lost to Middlesex. Alex also lost to Middlesex but got a valuable half point by winning the final hole and as we’ve found in previous seasons, every point and half point can be valuable in the overall league positions.
The aforementioned Will and his Hanbury Manor teammate Harrison Preston, who finished 2nd at the recent Boys Championship, both provided 2 wins a piece on the testing and undulating course which was made even harder due to a cold blustery wind. Ben Sessions had a good win over his opponent from Essex by a 3&2 margin but couldn’t shake off a dogged foe from Middlesex. Despite getting back to a 1 up lead on the 17th and making a secure par on the final hole, his opponent rolled in his 20ft putt on the last for a birdie 3 and a deserved half.
While all this was happening, Middlesex were quietly racking up match wins against Essex and what seemed like an unlikely outcome at the beginning of the day, was slowly becoming a reality and when a 4.5-3.5 Middlesex win was confirmed, it meant the unthinkable could just happen. With one match left of the course we had enough points for a win against Essex and when Castor beat his Essex opponent on the 17th green that gave us a 5.5-2.5 win against our hosts. That said, he still needed to get his 1up lead against Middlesex to the clubhouse to secure a win against them which he duly did with a superb approach up the hill to the home green and with his opponent finding trouble off the tee they soon shook hands without Castor having to putt.
Now tied on 8 match points each with Essex, the rules state that the tie is decided on the number of games won across the league campaign. Essex finished with a total of 27 games won and Hertfordshire 28, so as a result qualify for a first U18 final appearance since 2019 and hoping to repeat the last u18 win from 2018.
