English Seniors County Finals

English Seniors County Finals
6th - 8th October, 2009
Tandridge Golf Club, Surrey

Staffordshire Seniors, as the Midland Region qualifiers, represented the Midlands at the wonderful Tandridge Golf Club in Surrey.  The other regions were represented by Kent (SE), Devon (SW) and Cheshire (North).

The format for the competition is three foursomes matches in the morning and six singles in the afternoon. All counties playing each other over the three days.  Teams consist of 8 players with a maximum of six playing at any time.

Staffordshire's team:-

• Nick Copestick, Trentham
• John Loader, Beau Desert
• Glen MacBryde, Stone
• Martin Payne, Trentham
• Neil Portas, Trentham
• Ben Rhodes, Beau Desert
• David Thomas, Little Aston
• Barry Whitehouse, Bloxwich

 

                       Team Captain:  Terry Henwood

DAY 1
Staffordshire v Cheshire.



Having won the Championship on three previous occasions Cheshire were favourites and showed their strength by claiming all three morning foursomes convincingly, but good wins by Glen MacBryde (4/3) and Ben Rhodes (2 up) in the singles got some points on the board for Staffordshire giving a final scoreline of  7 - 2 to Cheshire.

Day 2
Staffordshire v Kent.

The second day saw Staffordshire playing a very strong Kent team.  Again we were unable to secure a point in the foursomes but wins in the afternoon by Barry Whitehouse and Glen MacBryde, in atrocious weather, helped to keep the momentum going into the final day.  Kent matched Cheshire's score with a 7 - 2 victory.

Day 3
Staffordshire v Devon.
By day three Dorset had also played Cheshire and Kent equaling Saffordshire's score of 4 points from the two matches.  This would be the battle for third place for two equally matched teams.  

In the morning foursomes, Glen MacBryde and Nick Copestick, Ben Rhodes and Barry Whitehouse had comfortable wins giving Staffordshire a one point lead going into the afternoon singles.    Ben Rhodes and Nick Copestick won their matches and all rested on Neil Portas, last man out.  Coming to the 18th one hole down he made a magnificent par on this difficult par 4 hole to secure a half.  

The result was a tied match 4.5 - 4.5

Although Cheshire came in as favourites they were beaten into second place by Kent.  Since the inauguration of the Championship the honours have been shared between Cheshire and Kent, each winning three times.

Staffordshire would like to thank Jim Dean, President of the Midland Golf Union, for his support. 

Championship results are available on:-       www.englishgolfunion.org

A selection of pictures may be found under the Pictures tab