The 51st renewal of the Four Counties Junior Tournament brought the boys teams of Cheshire, Lancashire, Nottinghamshire and Shropshire & Herefordshire to the wonderful Formby Golf Club. Given how few inland courses are actually open at the moment, it was very fortunate that Lancashire chose Formby to host this prestigious event.
Hosts Lancashire came into the tournament having won 10 out of the last 11, and on home territory they were hot favourites to continue this long winning streak. Cheshire, despite 15 wins previously, had not won since 2011 at Crewe. But our team was probably the strongest we have fielded for many years and the opening morning saw us take on Lancashire and feeling quietly confident.
Cheshire team:
Harry Kell (Sandiway) Captain
Lucas Kuiper (Stockport)
Oscar Craig (Sandiway)
Ben Buchanan (Dunham Forest)
Aaron Mohun (Delamere Forest)
Laurent Beech (Eaton)
Cole Self (Ringway)
Spencer Davies (Wallasey)
What nobody had expected was a 7-nil drubbing of the hosts by Cheshire’s young bucks in some really awful weather. Buoyed by this tremendous win, Cheshire won quite comfortably 5-2 in the afternoon against Nottinghamshire. Meanwhile S&H had beaten Notts and drawn with Lancashire, meaning that the Cheshire / S&H match on the second morning would settle the outcome of the tournament.
Cheshire again sent Cole Self out first, and once more he delivered with a handsome 5&4 victory. Our next two matches, involving captain Harry Kell and Lucas Kuiper, were both halved. But we were up in all other matches, and wins from Oscar Craig, Laurent Beech and Spencer Davies saw us home by a score of 5-2.
The Cheshire team were ably supported by President Roy Claxton, manager Andrew Henshall, Jonathan Kell, Ian Self, team coach Peter Barber and several parents and supporters.
This victory, following last season’s great success in going unbeaten and winning the inaugural Northern Counties Boys League, underlines the investment the county has and continues to make in junior golf. Huge thanks to everyone who is involved in the junior program in Cheshire, it really couldn’t happen without them. We can look forward with confidence to our boys matches this year after this emphatic and heartening win.
Cheshire host the tournament again in 2025, and President Roy Claxton announced at the prize presentation that it will be played on the links of the wonderful Wallasey Golf Club
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