DEVONGOLF JUNIOR CLUB TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFIER

Torquay Golf Club hosted 69 juniors from 11 different clubs across the county. They were playing for he honour of representing Devon in the England Golf Junior Champion Club final at Woodhall Spa in August.

Devon clubs nominate their players to compete with some clubs putting forward the 3 maximum number of teams allowed. The format was Stableford, teams of 3, 2 highest scores to count. The twist was the juniors do not play in their nominated teams. They might have known who their team members were but until the third player comes in no one could be sure of the team score. Picking teams was tricky for the Junior Organisers. Do you put your lowest handicappers together? Do you pick two low handicappers and one high improver? Clubs with a range of juniors to choose from had a difficult job to decide who would make up the best teams. Credit to the clubs who are not so blessed with low handicap juniors who, nonetheless, travelled across the county with some very plucky youngsters and gave it an excellent go.

Torquay Golf Club had pulled out all the stops with the course looking and playing well. Torquay's Lady Captain Sue Arnold was the starter and Junior Organiser Linda and Celia Marshall were on hand throughout the day to ensure the smooth running. Thank you to the caterers who seemingly effortlessly ran a Father's Day carvery in amongst the flood of youngsters before feeding them many pasties and chips when they finished play. DevonGolf's Jane MacDonald was on hand for any refereeing queries. It's not often the DevonGolf volunteers are offered a free carvery as we run the day but Torquay Golf Club did, giving us unlimited hospitality throughout and it was much appreciated.

The standard of golf was exceptionally high with player's handicaps ranging from +2 right up to the maximum 36 for girls. The first group to return scores set the pace with Finlay Procter (9-Torquay) coming in with 40 points and Callum Cogavin (9-Stover) with 37 points. Finlay's 40 points held well as more scores came in and all eyes were on his team mates Harry Smith (17) who scored 36 points for 76 points as they awaited Luca Impey's score much further down the field. The pace was set and it was hard to keep track of the team placings as the scores came in.

Team B for Stover were led out by Brook Tyler-Michelmore (10) who scored 31 points. Much further down the field were his team mates Cyril Gosling (20) who scored 39 points so, unbeknownst to him, the pressure was on Braydon Cotton (19) whose 36 points posted a team total of 75 points for second place. Staddon Heights also had 3 teams in the fight. First out for Team B Staddon Heights was Harry Thompson (9) posting a respectable 35 points. Coming in much further down the field were team mates Bobby Nash (18) with 30 points and the deciding score from Xander Thorburn (21) whose 39 points and total of 74 points put Team B Staddon Heights in 3rd place. Also on 74 points were Team B Thurlestone and Team A Woodbury Park.

For all team scores and placings click here

But eyes were also set on the individual top 3 places for prizes. Finlay held up well until, halfway down the field, Cyril Gosling (20-Stover) came close with 39 points. It was later in the field before Finlay's 40 points were first matched by Xander Rickford (29-Tiverton) and then both were toppled by Danny Chart (16-Churston) with 41 points, matched at the end of the field by Georgia Denega (20-Churston). But it was Martha Massingham (28-Thurlestone) whose 43 points won the individual prize.

For individual scores and placings click here

Congratulations to Torquay Golf Club’s Finley Procter, Harry Smith and Luca Impey who will represent Devon at the England Golf Club Junior Champions Final at Woodhall Spa in August.

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