Surrey bounce back to win Boys title - 6th Sep 2007

Surrey wrested the English Boys County Championship off holders Lancashire at Royal Cromer after a battle royal on the final afternoon of the three day event.

Despite trailing 1-2 after the morning foursomes, the South East Region champions bounced back in the singles to win 5½-3½.

The victory was sweet revenge for Surrey who were pipped by Lancashire for the title on countback a year ago at Pannal.

“We knew all the time that we had the players to do it,” said Surrey captain Terry Casey. “It’s a perfect reversal for last year and we are delighted to win the title.

“There was no question in my mind even when we were behind that we could win four points from the singles. This team are a great bunch and a number of them will go a long way in the game.

“Lancashire are also a great bunch and we needed to play well to win.”

Defeated captain Terry Horrocks, who was in charge when Lancashire won last year, said: “Surrey were quick out of the blocks and basically putted us off the park.

“We made a good fist of it but we allowed Surrey to get too far ahead. But everything was played in a good spirit and we shall be back.”

At lunch, it needed a supreme fight back by the Surrey boys if they were not to be the bridesmaids once again and it was their ’big guns’ who led the way.

The top single between boy caps Billy Fowles and Tommy Fleetwood set the pattern but Fowles was in supreme form, reaching the turn in four under par 32 to be just 2-up and although Fleetwood cut the deficit, Fowles picked up more shots on the back nine and was five under when the match finished on the 17th green with the Surrey lad three ahead.

Gary King, another boy international, maintained the pressure and was four under in beating Sean Nicholls 2 and 1, while Stiggy Hodgson was also five under when his match with Adam Andrews concluded in a 4 and 3 margin.

That left Surrey needing a win to be certain and it was achieved by Ian Anson by two holes over Ciaran Doherty.

Although former British Boys champion Matthew Nixon secured Lancashire’s consolation by beating Andrew Cooley 3 and 2 in the bottom single, it was too little, too late to keep the title in the north.

Perhaps the fightback to match Surrey's was achieved by Lancashire's Jack Brooks, who was 6-down to Lee Heaton at the turn, the Surrey lad having gone out in 32.

But Brooks showed true grit by battling back to gain a half, winning the 16th, 17th and 18th.

In the wooden spoon battle, Somerset bounced back from a 2-1 deficit in the foursomes to complete a 5-4 victory by taking the bottom three singles.

Matters didn’t look good for the south west champions when Max Brittan lost to Rudi Hercik and Jack Palmer was beaten by Tom Warbrick. That put Worcestershire within a win of victory.

But the finishing line was always out of touching distance with Somerset bossing the other matches.

Worcestershire had a semblance of a chance when Matthew Tweddell got back to 1-down with a birdie-two on the 17th against David Gregory. But again the win proved elusive as the 18th was halved in fours to leave Gregory a one hole winner.

Somerset’s success was sealed by Matt Kippen, who was three under when the match finished, and Sam Day in the bottom two matches which meant they took four of the six singles.

It meant that Somerset finished third and Worcestershire in last spot.

Related Links

• http://www.englishgolfunion.org

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