English County Championship Finals

Staffordshire's elite players took part in the EGU Men's County Championship at the delightful Chipping Sodbury Golf Club in Gloucestershire.

The weather was as good as it had been all year and the superb condition of the golf course made for some excellent golf, enjoyed by the many enthusiastic spectators who turned out to support the Staffordshire players.  Especially welcome were the representatives of the Midland Region, namely, Jim Dean and Terry Arnold, President and Secretary, respectively, of the Midland Golf Union.

The competition was played over three days, each competing County playing in a round robin format against the other counties over 2 rounds of match play.  Three foursomes matches were played each morning followed by 6 singles matches in the afternoon.

The four counties representing the Regions were:-
North          Cumbria
Midlands      Staffordshire
Southeast   Essex
Southwest  Wiltshire

Staffordshire were represented by:-
Tony Cheese.  Sandwell Park
Paul Griffiths.  Sandwell Park
Andy Guy.  Leek
Jarred McKnight.  Whittington Heath
Richard Prophet.  Sandwell Park
David Walley.  Wolstanton
Neil Wain.  Trentham Park

Captain.  Brian Belcher.  Beau Desert


  On day one Staffordshire were drawn to play against Wiltshire who proved too strong on the day.  Staffordshire's sole foursomes point came from the pairing of Jarred McKnight and Richard Prophet. 

 

Jarred and Tony Cheese won their afternoon singles matches and Richard halved his match.  The score for the day was 5.5 to 3.5 in Wiltshire's favour.




Day two saw Staffordshire pitted against the eventual winners, Essex, who proved too strong for all the teams.  By Tony Cheese and Paul Griffiths gaining the only half point in the morning foursomes it was always going to be a difficult afternoon of singles.




Our only wins came from David Walley and Neil Wain to make a match total of 6.5 to 2.5 in favour of Essex.







Day three saw a very close match against Cumbria. 
With McKnight and Prophet winning a point in the morning plus a half point from Tony Cheese and Andy Guy and wins from Griffiths, Prophet and McKnight in the afternoon the match was halved at 4.5 points each.



Staffordshire Captain, Brian Belcher, said he was very proud of his team and the golf by all of the teams was quite outstanding.  He thanked his players for their commitment and enthusiasm.



This competition will always be remembered for the high standard of play by all participants and as the Club Captain said, at the presentation ceremony, all the teams were at Chipping Sodbury because they were winners.  We, the supporters would like to thank the players for putting on such a splendid exhibition of quality golf.


Each day's results may be viewed at www.englishgolfunion.org


To enlarge thumbnails click on the right hand images