English senior men's county finals at Ferndown
Dorset revival in singles against Northants
NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY ENGLISH GOLF UNION
Dorset stole a march on the ‘big two’ with a remarkable 6-3 victory over Northamptonshire on the opening day of the English Seniors County Finals at Ferndown as Cheshire and Kent, the joint favourites, battled out a tie.
There was little hint of the final outcome when Rodney Haig and Brian O’Connell and Mike Abbotts and Jim Pagan sealed solid victories for Northants, while John Smith and David Barton gained Dorset’s only success.
But it was a different story in the afternoon. After going into lunch 1-2 down, Dorset went into the singles with all guns blazing and turned the match on its head by taking five of the six games.
Their only setback came in the top single where Richard Cole added to the Midlanders tally with a 2 and 1 win over John Smith.
Otherwise it was Dorset all the way with John Gordon leading from the front with a 4 and 2 win over Brian O’Connell. He was backed by David Barton and Campbell Boal, who both won by 2 and 1, while Rodger Hearn claimed a 2 hole victory and Brian Medlam a 1 hole success.
There has been little to separate the over 55s of Cheshire and Kent over recent years and this was underlined on an extraordinary first day. The match ended 4.5 – 4.5 after the two teams couldn’t be separated after the foursomes and the singles series also finished all square.
Chris Reynolds and Chris Hurst gave Kent a boost when they beat Roy Smethurst and Gordon Broster 3 and 2 in the opening foursomes. But Phil Slater and Bob Walker evened things up with a similar scoreline against Andrew Stracey and Ricky Moore.
In the third game, Dave Jessup and Roger Salmon for Kent raced 3-up after six holes against George Payne and Ron Harrison then proceeded to lose three holes in a row from the seventh. They got to 2-up again by winning the tenth and 12th but then saw the advantage slip away again to finish all square.
Could one side take a grip in the singles? Harrison won well for Cheshire as did Reynolds for Kent but the other games were too close to call.
Slater edged to a point by the narrowest of margins over Jessup, who again saw a significant lead slip away. The Kent man was 4-up after ten holes but Slater took the 11th then birdies at the short 12th and long 13th saw Jessup’s lead cut to one.
Another Slater birdie at the 16th got him back to all-square and he repeated it at 17 to edge in front before a half at the 18th saw him home.
Would Cheshire push on to an overall victory? No, Reynolds played exceptionally well against Joe Phillips, covering the front nine in three under par to go to the tenth 4-up. Phillips managed to win the 12th and 15th but Reynolds rounded it off at the 16th, winning 3 and 2.
Deadlock reigned and it was destined to finish that way as the other two games finished all square, leaving both counties to seek wins in their other matches.
NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY ENGLISH GOLF UNION
Dorset stole a march on the ‘big two’ with a remarkable 6-3 victory over Northamptonshire on the opening day of the English Seniors County Finals at Ferndown as Cheshire and Kent, the joint favourites, battled out a tie.
There was little hint of the final outcome when Rodney Haig and Brian O’Connell and Mike Abbotts and Jim Pagan sealed solid victories for Northants, while John Smith and David Barton gained Dorset’s only success.
But it was a different story in the afternoon. After going into lunch 1-2 down, Dorset went into the singles with all guns blazing and turned the match on its head by taking five of the six games.
Their only setback came in the top single where Richard Cole added to the Midlanders tally with a 2 and 1 win over John Smith.
Otherwise it was Dorset all the way with John Gordon leading from the front with a 4 and 2 win over Brian O’Connell. He was backed by David Barton and Campbell Boal, who both won by 2 and 1, while Rodger Hearn claimed a 2 hole victory and Brian Medlam a 1 hole success.
There has been little to separate the over 55s of Cheshire and Kent over recent years and this was underlined on an extraordinary first day. The match ended 4.5 – 4.5 after the two teams couldn’t be separated after the foursomes and the singles series also finished all square.
Chris Reynolds and Chris Hurst gave Kent a boost when they beat Roy Smethurst and Gordon Broster 3 and 2 in the opening foursomes. But Phil Slater and Bob Walker evened things up with a similar scoreline against Andrew Stracey and Ricky Moore.
In the third game, Dave Jessup and Roger Salmon for Kent raced 3-up after six holes against George Payne and Ron Harrison then proceeded to lose three holes in a row from the seventh. They got to 2-up again by winning the tenth and 12th but then saw the advantage slip away again to finish all square.
Could one side take a grip in the singles? Harrison won well for Cheshire as did Reynolds for Kent but the other games were too close to call.
Slater edged to a point by the narrowest of margins over Jessup, who again saw a significant lead slip away. The Kent man was 4-up after ten holes but Slater took the 11th then birdies at the short 12th and long 13th saw Jessup’s lead cut to one.
Another Slater birdie at the 16th got him back to all-square and he repeated it at 17 to edge in front before a half at the 18th saw him home.
Would Cheshire push on to an overall victory? No, Reynolds played exceptionally well against Joe Phillips, covering the front nine in three under par to go to the tenth 4-up. Phillips managed to win the 12th and 15th but Reynolds rounded it off at the 16th, winning 3 and 2.
Deadlock reigned and it was destined to finish that way as the other two games finished all square, leaving both counties to seek wins in their other matches.
Labels: Senior men
posted by Colin |
See story on its own page | Thursday, October 07, 2010
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