Gloucestershire Golf Union
GGU U18's narrowly miss out on the Severnside Trophy
GGU U18s narrowly miss out on the Severnside Trophy
It was a change in format this year as Gwent dropped out of the competition earlier in the season leaving Gloucestershire, Worcestershire & Glamorgan to do battle for the coveted Severnside Trophy. It was agreed that the match play format was not suitable for a Triangular match so Thursday afternoon became the practice round and Friday became a 36 hole individual stroke play event. The teams consisted of 6 players each, with the best 5 gross scores in the morning and afternoon counting towards the overall team total. The team with the lowest score for both rounds would be declared the winners and prizes would be awarded for the best individual scores on the day.
The GGU team consisted of Ambrose Eaves (Captain), Ted Ballard, Felix Chippendale, Charlie Ford, Oscar Linton & Jack Lockwood and it was off the Morlais Castle on a bright Thursday in August to try and defend the trophy we won last year. All the boys arrived in good spirits looking forward to the challenge ahead and after a quick bite to eat, it was off to play the practice round. Given all the burnt up courses in Gloucestershire, it was somewhat of a surprise to see Morlais Castle so lush and green but it soon became clear that with the undulating holes, very thick rough and small greens scoring would be very difficult indeed. There were certain places you just couldn’t hit the golf ball so the practice round was invaluable and Tom Motley, U18 Coach, was on hand to pass on advice as the boys went round
After the practice round it was off to the local Premier Inn at Merthyr Tydfil for some food and a good nights sleep and it was up at 6.30am on Friday for some breakfast in preparation for the day ahead. It was another gorgeous day in the Welsh valleys so re-fuelling throughout the day would be key to making sure the boys stayed rehydrated and concentration levels optimised.
Ted Ballard was first off and played some great golf to finish level par on 71. Ambrose was up next and shot a 74, followed by Felix who had a 76. Charlie and Oscar were next and both shot 80’s and Jack, who is still an U14, brought up the rear shooting a very good 74. So with one score discarded, we had a score of 375 after round 1, 6 shots behind Glamorgan and 20 shots ahead of Worcestershire. Individually, Paul Reid from Glamorgan was leading with a 70 (-1) followed closely by Ted Ballard and William Pontin (Glamorgan) who both shot level par 71s
So it was all to play for in the afternoon and the boys all started well. Other than Jack, all the boys either had the same morning score or improved on it with Ted producing another very good level par round of 71, Ambrose shooting 73, Felix 74, Charlie 79, Oscar 71 and Jack 81. So it was off to the leaderboard to see the overall scores and in the final calculation, Gloucestershire lost by only 3 shots to Glamorgan so a really great effort and just coming up short. Obviously the boys lamented the lost ball here, the missed putt there but all in all it was a fine performance from a very young team and other than Ted, all the boys will be eligible to play in next years event along with a number of other upcoming golfers that we have in our squads who will be challenging for inclusion.
The overall winner on the day was Paul Reid (Glamorgan) who shot 70/68 for a total of 138 (-4) beating our very own Ted Ballard with a total of 142 and both boys received a prize for their efforts.
Our thanks go to Glamorgan for organising such an excellent event and in particular, Martin Price, Glamorgan Secretary, Mark Evans (Glamorgan Junior Chairman) and James Pontin (Glamorgan Under 18 Manager). Thanks also to Kevin Fee who looked after the Worcestershire boys and also to Morlais Castle GC for hosting the event and looking after us so well. The course was in great condition and the beef roast dinner after the presentation was excellent.
My personal thanks go to our President, Richard Salter, who supported me and the boys throughout the day and also thanks to Tom Motley for all his input, guidance and encouragement that he gave to the boys on the day.
Our next and final fixture is the Channel League game against Glamorgan at Bargoed on the 14th September so we will certainly be looking for revenge in that match!
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Ian James - U18's Match Manager
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