Senior Captain Martin Keates reflects on the 2025 Season
Mike WallworkMartyn GrimleyGuy HindleGareth Bradley OOM Winner
We suffered disappointment in the Northern League, finishing in last place and winning only one of our five league matches (beating Cumbria comfortably in the final match of the season).
However, we then went on to win the Northern Counties Big Six tournament at Wilmslow, qualifying for the English Counties Finals for the first time in fifteen years. It felt a bit like in football terms having a relegation season but getting to the Champions League final!
As far as the Northern league is concerned, it has never been stronger. Lancashire and Yorkshire remain two of the strongest counties in England but both Durham and Northumberland in particular now boast very strong teams indeed and never go into any match as underdogs. In truth our players competed well in individual matches but results always seemed to go against us, leading to a poor league finish.
Despite our poor league showing we went into the Big Six tournament at Wilmslow knowing that we were capable of winning - both because it is a course we know well and because we knew that we had very strong individual players. And so it proved: Cheshire prevailed with a two shot win over Northumberland with only four shots covering the top five teams over 216 holes of golf!
The team then travelled to Yorkshire and Harrogate Golf Club to represent the Northern Counties in the English Finals.
At Harrogate we competed against Lincolnshire, Sussex and Cornwall (who represented the three other English regions), in a three day round robin tournament of two 18 hole sessions a day of morning foursomes and afternoon singles.
To cut a long story short, despite Gareth Bradley, our top player and top performer in the qualifier being unavailable, we won two of our three matches finishing tied at the top with Lincolnshire who also won two matches. Unfortunately however, we lost out on being champions of England on a count back by a single match point over the 27 points played for in the three day tournament. It was nevertheless a fantastic experience for all those involved and has only strengthened our resolve to qualify again next year!
In terms of individual performances during the year, Gareth Bradley once again won the Order of Merit, winning the Frank Stableford tournament at Wallasey (an England OOM ranking event packed with international players) and successfully defended his Cheshire Seniors match-play title at Warrington, beating Guy Hindle in the final. Gareth also had consistently high finishes throughout the year including finishing second in the individual tournament at the Big Six qualifier at Wilmslow.
Guy Hindle enjoyed a strong season, finishing second in the OOM, runner up in the Cheshire matchplay, enjoying a top 20 finish in the English Seniors and finishing third in the Big Six qualifier.
Dave Nelson rolled back the years at Vicars Cross GC winning his fourth Cheshire Seniors strokeplay, with a fine final round of 69 - once again showing that class is permanent - an amazing achievement.
Other winners were:Martin Keates, who won the Gordon Edwards Trophy at Bromborough which helped him secure third place in the OOM. Mike Wallwork, who won the end of season Aberdovey Slate to cap off his excellent first year as a Cheshire Senior and Martyn Grimley was unlucky to lose in a play off in the Harlech Silver Cross."