DEVON BOYS WIN ENGLAND GOLF BOYS COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!

DEVONGOLF'S BOYS ONLY WENT AND DONE IT!

Picture copyright Leaderboard 3

It doesn't get much bigger for our DevonGolf Boys' team. Led by DevonGolf's Head Coach Gary Milne, Team Captain Craig Passmore (Torquay), David Baldwin (Tiverton), Fred Bishop (Exeter), Jack Jeffery (Exeter), Matt Millar (Dainton Park), James Reed (Exeter) and Jay Scott (Tiverton) qualified for the England Golf Boys' County Final at North Foreland Golf Club in Kent.

This final is contested by 4 county boys’ teams, each representing one of the England Golf regional groups. The round robin match play event takes place over 3 days. Each day’s play consists of 3 games of 18-hole foursomes in the morning and 6 games of 18-hole singles in the afternoon. Each county enters a team of 7 players. Any 6 of these may play in the foursomes and any 6 in the singles of each match.

On Day 1 our opponents were Kent. The morning's Foursome brought 1 win, 1 loss and 1 draw for 1½ points. The 6 points available in the afternoon's Singles saw Devon win 3½-2½ for an overall winning score of 5-4. This translated into 2 points for the day, level with Lancashire who beat Northamptonshire 7-2 for 2 points. The leaderboard showed Devon and Lancashire both with 2 points, Devon in second place on "game difference". 

Day 2's opposition was Northamptonshire and Devon were up 2-1 after the Foursomes. The afternoon was a mixed bag for Devon with 2 wins, 2 losses and 2 halved matches. But it was a winning score overall and Devon emerged the winners 5-4 and took the 2 points. Kent played Lancashire and they were honours even with 4½ points each for 1 point for the day. Devon went into Day 3 against Lancashire with 4 points on the board to Lancashire's 3 points. All it needs from Devon is a win or a half to take home the trophy on Day 3.

All to Play For - Day 3
After 6 holes of the morning Foursomes on the final day, things were not looking particularly rosy as we were down in all 3 matches. Things improved slightly through 12 holes but we were still not in the driving seat. Our first pair of James Reed and Fred Bishop went down 4-3, their opponents were 6 under par when they closed the match out. What was to unfold in the next match was truly a turning point.

David Baldwin and Craig Passmore were playing in the second game. With 2 holes to play, Devon were 2 down when David Baldwin hit one of the shot of the tournament, his second shot with a 4 iron ended up 12 feet from the flag. This left a comfortable 2 putt and Devon were on the 18th tee 1 up. The last at North Foreland is a great par 3, playing 197 yards. Devon missed the green to the right whilst their opponents hit the target. Craig played a good pitch to 9 feet and Lancashire made a regulation 3 which set the stage for David. He promptly rolled the putt in for par, ensuring the points went Devon's way. Now we were 1 point apiece with the back match in a bit of bother.

Matt Millar and Jay Scott were 3 down through 12 holes and managed to get it back to all square through 15, only to lose the 16th to a birdie. Devon won the tough 17th with a par and it was back to all square. This was not a moment for the faint hearted! Jay put his iron shot into the middle of the green, as did the opposition. The game was halved in par and the honours were even at lunch with 1½ points each.

Devon needed to get a total of 4½ points on the board so 3 points were required from the afternoon's Singles in order to become the champions. Matches were fairly evenly balanced after 6 holes. However, Craig Passmore found himself 3 down and Jack Jeffery 4 down as their opponents both got off to fast starts. After 9 holes Devon were up in 3 matches and down in 3. At this point I think a health warning should have been issued to all the supporters!

Through 12 holes, news was filtering through that Jack Jeffery had turned his match around and was back to all square, having been 4 down. We had our noses in front for the first time in the match but it was all too close for comfort.

The first point of the afternoon went Devon's way with Matt Millar closing out his game 3-2. The top match went all the way to the wire, Craig Passmore losing 1 down. Despite playing well all week, Fred Bishop was defeated. Lancashire were 3½-2½ up at this point with 3 games left on the course.

Jack Jeffery holed a magnificent bunker shot on 17, you could hear the roar across the course, but unfortunately he lost on the last. James Reed, after a very disciplined performance, closed out his opponent 3-2. Which left Jay Scott playing the 17th dormie 2 up. After a tricky first putt Jay left himself a 2½ foot putt to halve the hole. The tension was at an all time high as Jay rolled in the putt and Devon became the English Boys' County Champions for the first time in our history!

I would like to pay tribute to Grahame Moore for all he did for the boys and DevonGolf over the years. To the team who were first class in every way on and off the golf course. Grahame would have been so proud of you all.

Thanks must also go to Richard Pascoe, our President, and Roger Worthington, Performance Director, who have both been part of this journey for a long time. To all the supporters who made the long journey, you were all magnificent and I'm so pleased you were there to witness history in the making. Finally, I wold like to thank Thrifty UK, EIC Commercial, Titleist and Footjoy Europe for all the support they have given in making DevonGolf boys achieve one of their dreams.

I am immensely proud of the efforts and attitudes that the boys have shown. It's been an honour and privilege to work with such talented young people who, I am sure, will go on to achieve even greater success in the future.

Gary Milne
Head Coach DevonGolf

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