Surrey v Gloucestershire for English

boys' county championship crown

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY ENGLISH GOLF UNION
Surrey remain on course for a third successive English Boys County Championship but they were given a tough battle by Worcestershire before claiming a 5-4 win. In the other match, Gloucestershire beat Lancashire 5.5 – 3.5 to keep their hopes alive.
That means Surrey meet Gloucestershire in a winner-takes-all contest. Both have two victories but Gloucestershire are half a game point ahead.
Having found themselves trailing 1-2 after the morning foursomes, Surrey regrouped at lunch and came out fighting to claim two singles wins through Greg Payne and Curtis Griffiths.
Left-hander Payne opened with an eagle-three against Worcester’s Craig Richardson and was 3-up through five holes. He was pulled back to one hole after eight but Payne took the ninth and tenth to restore his 3-up lead. Payne also won the short 13th with a par and wrapped up his victory with a conceded birdie on the 15th for a 5 and 3 triumph.
Griffiths made an equally explosive start against Matthew Tweddell, racing 3-up after four and 5-up after seven holes. At that stage the Surrey was only one under par and he was still 5-up at the turn. He gave two holes back but was conceded the 12th and went on to claim a 4 and 2 win.
Meanwhile, in the top single, Ben Taylor for Surrey and Chris Nugent were locked in a tight battle with birdies being swapped over the front nine. The turn was reached all square but a Nugent birdie at the short 13th proved decisive as he went on to win on the 18th green.
Rob Aldred edged Worcestershire ahead again by beating Gareth Blease, seeing his first action of the week, 2 and 1. Both players were in form, proving a string of birdies and the contest was still level with four to play. But Aldred won the 16th and 17th, albeit not with birdies, to secure a 2 and 1 win.
That left Surrey needing the two remaining singles for overall victory and they got them thanks to Matthew Chapman and Josh White.
Chapman was involved in a close tussle with Rumayne Stevens until the 14th when he pulled away, winning that hole with a par and the 17th with a birdie for a 3 and 1 win.
White was an approximate four under par through 13 holes to be 4-up against Tom Warbrick only for the Worcester lad to take the 15th and 16th with pars before White closed the door with a half in fours on 17 and a 2 and 1 score.
Lancashire edged the foursomes 2-1 but Gloucestershire fought back to win four of the six singles with one halved.
The south west champions were led off by Chris Lloyd, who battled back from 2-down against Mark Duncalf to win 4 and 3. Duncalf was 2-up after four holes but the match was all square at the turn before Lloyd stepped on the gas to win four of the next five holes and claim the point.
Lloyd’s England colleague Adam Carson (picture © Tom Ward) then romped to a 5 and 3 win over Paul Kinnear to see Gloucester ahead but Sean Towndrow kept Lancashire in the hunt with a 3 and 2 win over Laurie Potter.
The other three matches all went to the 18th green with Gloucestershire getting the better of the battles.
After Sam Sullivan and Jack Brooks had halved 15 successive holes from the fourth for the first halved match of the week, the other two contests saw Gloucestershire home.
Tyler Hogarty was dormie two against James Bolton but was taken to the 18th before securing his win, while Sam Morgan was 3-up against Michael Howard with four to play only to see the latter win the 15th and 16th with pars. They halved the 17th in sixes after both had chances to win the hole, Morgan taking four putts and Howard three. However, a half in fours at the last saw Morgan home.
Admission is free to the event. For those unable to attend, scoring, championship commentary and news updates are available on the Championships Section of the EGU website, www.englishgolfunion.org