Surrey win English boys' county title

for third year in a row

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE ENGLISH GOLF UNION
Surrey are English boys county champions again. They collected their third successive title when they beat Gloucestershire 5-3 with one match halved on an extremely windy afternoon at Whittington Heath.
Their victory completed a clean sweep of the other three regional county champions and leaves them at the pinnacle of boys’ golf. Their captain Terry Casey was naturally delighted at seeing his side completed their mission of a title hat-trick.
“This is an unbelievable feeling to have won again,” he said. “It’s a fantastic effort but this is such a good bunch of lads but I seem to say that every year. It’s all about team work. Josh White is such a great captain and I cannot believe how we come up with such an unbelievable bunch of kids each year.”
So what is the secret of Surrey’s success? “We don’t even know if there is a secret,” he added. “It’s about a lot of hard work by a team of people which starts with the committee and we have the best coach which creates a good foundation so the kids just want to play. Of course, winning becomes a habit and we have five of this team who will be available next year. I thought this would be our lean year but I was wrong.”
Gloucester captain Mark Powell said: “We got extremely close and I’m proud of my team. This is the furthest Gloucester have got in the championship and I felt we had a good chance of beating Surrey. We halved the singles when we played them in a friendly in March without our two England boys. But it wasn’t to be.”
After edging the morning foursomes 2-1, Surrey needed a fast start in the singles and they got it from Ben Taylor, who beat Sam Payne 6 and 5, plus an exemplary display from Curtis Griffiths in defeating Laurie Potter 3 and 2.
England boy cap Chris Lloyd lost the opening hole to the promising left-hander Greg Payne but struck back with five 3s in the next six holes to race four-up on his way to a 5 and 4 win. But Surrey were not to be denied and although Tyler Hogarty gained another point for Gloucester, Surrey were seen home with a half from Matthew Chapman against boy cap Adam Carson while skipper Josh White rounded it all off with a two hole victory over Sam Sullivan.
In the contest for third place, Lancashire beat Worcestershire 6-3 after taking two of the foursomes to leave the Midland Champions with the wooden spoon. After lunch, Lancashire came out with all guns blazing, taking the top two singles through Jack Brooks, 4 and 2 over Chris Nugent, and by 6 and 4 by Anthony Stirling against Rob Aldred.
Stirling was particularly impressive, the Formby lad claiming seven birdies and 21 putts in the 14 holes played. That put Lancashire within sight of victory and they cantered home with further wins from Mark Duncalf and James Bolton. All match scores, championship commentary and news updates are available on the Championships Section of the EGU website, www.englishgolfunion.org