The annual U16 tri-match against Shropshire & Herefordshire and Staffordshire took place at the picturesque Church Stretton G.C. in Shropshire. Once again, Worcestershire had to call on it's squad members to field a competitive team due to the absence of some of it's original team because of individual national events, injuries and holidays which is common at this time of year. Nevertheless Worcestershire fielded an enthusiastic team raring to put their skills to the test in a competitive situation. We were delighted that 3 players were able to make their debuts for the U16 team: Callum Jones, Joe Lonergan and Jack Price. 

It was always going to be a challenging day for the players of all the counties due to the difficult nature 

of the course where the severity of some of the slopes meant that the nearest point of relief was Bridgnorth! Also due to the altitude of the course the windy conditions made club selection very difficult throughout the day.

WORCESTERSHIRE V S&H

Our team started positively and established a 3.5 - 1.5 lead following the morning foursome matches with wins for Mark Hewlett (Capt) / Teddy Fee (3&2), Harry Evans / Alex Perry (2 up) and Ollie Smith / Lewis Tolley (1 up) and the pairing of Jack Price / Josh Griffiths shared a point against their opponents. However, as the singles matches developed the S&H team gradually fought their way back into the match. There were determined performances from all the team but they were unable to capitalize on their opportunities when they occurred. There were wins in the singles for Mark Hewlett (who won all of his 4 matches during the day), and Lewis Tolley and both Alex Perry and Ollie Smith played well to halve their games. Despite all the teams efforts, S&H achieved victory by 8.5 - 6.5

WORCESTERSHIRE V STAFFORDSHIRE

It was a similar story in the match against Staffordshire. The morning foursome matches were very competitive with Staffs leading the session by 3 - 2. There were wins for the Mark Hewlett / Teddy Fee pairing (3&2) and for Jack Price / Josh Griffiths (2 up). The singles was a carbon copy of the games against S&H where we started well but couldn't stop the ascendancy of the Staffordshire team who appeared  to deal with the match situation and tricky conditions with more confidence. Wins for Mark  Hewlett, Callum Jones and Harry Evans and half a point from both Alex Perry and Ollie Smith gave the team some encouragement but despite a valiant effort from all the players Staffordshire eventually won the match 9 - 6.

Our thanks go to all our players for their effort and commitment during a very long day. Also many thanks to Church Stretton G.C. for their hospitality and to Dave Jones and the S&H officials for organising a very demanding day of golf. Once again our thanks go to all the parents for their outstanding support which is very much appreciated and to Mark Hewlett for his tireless efforts. 

Final Scores:

S&H 8.5    Worcestershire 6.5

Staffordshire 9   Worcestershire 6

Roger Martin (team manager)

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