Hallamshire Put Up Brave Fight Against Fierce Title Rivals

Hallamshire battled bravely at the televised Home Nations Junior Team Golf championship at La Manga Club in Spain to leave with their heads held high. Due to the strength of the other national champion teams from Scotland, Wales and Ireland competing against them, the Sheffield squad had to show the same battling spirit that saw them qualify as English national champions at the famous Marquess course at Woburn.

On the first day of the championships, Hallamshire were given the hard task of trying to claim a point against the heavy favourites Co Sligo from Ireland. As predicted the day did not go well for Hallamshire going down 5-1 losers. The score line however did not reflect the tightness of the match, as a couple of the individual matches ended up very close and could quite have easily swung in favour of Hallamshire.

The second day’s play did not offer an easier challenge either with Hallamshire’s next opponents coming from the experienced Scottish side Craigielaw who had represented Scotland at La Manga Club the previous year.

The day did not start well for Hallamshire who lost the first three of their six medal match play rounds against Craigielaw. But to everyone’s surprise, the tail of the Hallamshire team produced an amazing comeback to draw the match 3-3. This in fact proved costly for Hallamshire’s archrivals, as this draw was to eventually cost the Scots the prestigious Home Nations Junior Team Golf Finals.

Hallamshire’s final day opponents were the Welsh team Carmarthen. This turned out to be a direct battle for third and fourth place and, as expected, it was a fiercely contested contest between the two nations.

The scoring was very tight and it looked like the result could turn either way. It was so tight in fact that the match was only decided on the 18th green of the last game. A fantastic 15 foot putt from off the 18th green in front of the TV cameras by Carmarthen’s number six, Steffan Griffiths, denied Hallamshire’s Will Tickell an almost certain half point or possibly the game, which would have tied the match overall and left Hallamshire half a point ahead of Carmarthen. However, in the end, the match finished 4-2 to Wales and Hallamshire had to settle for fourth place.

Despite finishing fourth, Hallamshire were very upbeat about their performances during the week and Tony Watkins, the Hallamshire Junior Organiser said, “I am immensely proud of the players and this experience can only benefit them in the long run. They represented their nation extremely well and behaved immaculately. The camaraderie generated between them was outstanding.”

Hallamshire’s star player, Will Tickell, earned himself a personalised Cleveland pitching wedge for his hard work. This prize was given to the member of each team with the lowest single round net score. Will just pipped team mate James Gregg because he twice shot one under net against James’ single one under round.

Hallamshire headed home to Sheffield very proud of their achievements and are even more determined than ever to qualify for the championships again so that they can have another shot at winning the most prestigious title in junior team golf.