Essex men win English county championship for first time

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY ENGLISH GOLF UNION
For the first time in their history Essex are the English men's county champions. They clinched the title in nail-biting fashion by beating Wiltshire 5-4, the championship being settled in the final match on the final green.
Having finished the foursomes 1-2 behind, Essex then turned the tables by winning four of the six singles to claim the title in their first finals appearance for 34 years.
It was a jubilant Essex skipper David Miller who said: “I’m delighted. We knew if we drew the match we’d lost on game points so we had to win. I told the players to go out and just play their normal games and my four strong players got the wins but midway through the afternoon I felt it was getting away from us.
“But I’m so pleased for the boys. I’ve been with them for three or four years and we’ve been a close-knit squad with a great spirit. It is nice to win but it is tough to lose and I feel sorry for Ben Loughrey in the final match when the pressure kicks in.”
Miller was referring to the crucial contest and the last left on the course. With the score 4-4, Loughrey and Ross Spurgeon came to the 18th all square and the Wiltshire man was in the better position off the tee. However, he hooked his second shot out of bounds and with it went Wiltshire’s hopes. He found the green in four but took two more to get down for a bogey 6 and with Spurgeon on the putting surface in three, conceded the game and with it overall victory.
It was something of an anti-climax to a splendid contest and gave Loughrey his only defeat in six outings. Under the pressure, the 18th also saw Matt Swales fire his approach out of bounds as did Essex’s James Webber.
It cost them all but Wiltshire will be wondering how the title got away from them for the third successive year. Wiltshire captain Jez Tomlinson said: "I’m proud of what we have achieved. We’ve gone further than ever before and we just came up short. I think the morning foursomes took more out of the team than we thought.
"After nine holes of the singles I felt we were out of it, down in five matches and level in the other. But the boys rallied well and we came so close."
The battle for third place went in Cumbria’s favour by half a game point after their match finished in a 4½ - 4½ tie. There was nothing to separate them in the foursomes either, both sides claiming one win and a halved match.
That meant everything hinged on the singles and Cumbria made the first move, winning the top two singles with William Bowe beating David Walley and Simon Young overcoming Neil Wain, both by 3 and 2.
But the match swung Staffordshire’s way when Paul Griffiths beat an out of sorts Seb Crookall-Nixon 3 and 2, while Richard Prophet and Jarred McKnight claimed 5 and 4 wins over James Atkinson and Martin Hand respectively.
Prophet had three front-nine birdies to turn two up, then birdied the 10th, 12th and 14th to seal his victory. That left Staffordshire one point ahead but Cumbria had the last laugh when Grant Little led most of the way against Tony Cheese to claim the last game 3 and 2 which avoided the wooden spoon.
Final scores and more information on the Men's County Champions event can be found on the EGU website, www.englishgolfunion.org