Gloucestershire Golf Union
GGU U18's lose their Channel League Match against Wiltshire
It was another bright sunny morning as the boys arrived at Cirencester GC for their Channel League fixture against Wiltshire with just a gentle breeze in the air to make scoring conditions that bit trickier. There was a late drop out in the team so Felix Chippendale, a Cirencester member and Captain of the U16s, stepped in to make his U18 debut. Cirencester has a good practice range facility so all the boys headed off to the practice ground to warm up ahead of the match whilst the team managers exchanged the morning foursomes pairings and agreed the running order for the afternoon singles.
Reggie Phelps (Captain) & Jaxson Perry led the way in the foursomes and had a really close game against their Wiltshire counterparts, eventually winning their match 2 & 1. Unfortunately, the next 3 pairings all lost with Charlie Ford & Felix Chippendale losing 3 & 2, Oscar Linton & Edison Butler losing 4 & 3 and Tom Chapman & James Sayce also losing 3 & 2. It was then down to the last pairing of Ethan Jay & Jackson Wojahn-Parker, both left handers, to make the morning score respectable and after a very closely fought contest, they won their match 2 & 1 leaving the overall score 3 v 2 to Wiltshire at lunch. So all to play for in the afternoon singles.
After a lunch of Sandwiches & Chips, it was back out for the afternoon singles and Jaxson was out top, playing against Ayden White. Jaxson battled hard and after being 4 down after 12, he then won the next 4 holes to be all square on the 17th tee. However, he lost the 17th to a great birdie but managed to win the last to secure a very well earned half. Reggie made very light work of his match winning 7 & 5, as did Felix who won 7 & 6 which was a really great win on his debut. Oscar was involved in a really close match and it was nip & tuck all the way before eventually losing 1 down on the last. So with 6 matches still out on the course, the overall score was tied at 4.5 v 4.5. Unfortunately, we lost the next 3 matches with Edison going down 3 & 1, Charlie 4 & 2 and Tom 7 &6 meaning we had to win the last 3 matches to tie. Jackson came up trumps with a solid 4 & 3 win and Ethan very nearly managed a win but lost the 17th after being one up and made a great putt on the last to secure a well earned half. James was the last match out and he lost 3 & 2 which meant that Wiltshire won the match 9 v 6 overall for well deserved win.
Colin Rossiter ran the Wiltshire team on the day and our thanks go to all the Wiltshire boys for playing the game in such good spirits. Unfortunately Colin was unable to attend the meal afterwards and 3 of the Wiltshire boys disappeared after the match, including their Captain, so there were no speeches after the meal. However, they are representing the South West in the upcoming England Boys Finals and we wish them every success in that event.
Given the weather to date, it was hardly surprising that the Cirencester course was firm and bouncy but nevertheless, it played very well with the greens receptive to good shots so our thanks go to the Greenstaff team for presenting the course in such good condition. Our thanks also go to Emma and her Clubhouse team for keeping us fed and watered during the day..
On a personal note, I would like to thank Richard Salter (our GGU President), for all his support on the day and also for volunteering to act as starter for both the morning foursomes and afternoon singles. It was also the final GGU U18 match for Reggie Phelps who has been with us for over 6 years having made his way through the various age groups. He is off to college in America on Saturday and we all wish him every success in the future.
Finally, many thanks as always to all the parents/grandparents who brought and picked up the boys on the day as without this level of support we just wouldn’t have a team.
Our next big event is Severnside which is being held at Morlais Castle, Glamorgan on 21st/22nd August. It is a new format this year as Gwent have dropped out of this competition and will involve a 6 man team playing an individual 36 hole medal on the Friday with the best 5 scores in the morning and afternoon counting towards the overall team score. The Thursday afternoon will be the practice round and the teams competing will be ourselves, Worcestershire & Glamorgan. Spectators are more than welcome to join us on the Friday if they wish.
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Ian James - U18 Team Manager
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