A young U18's team come so very close against Warwickshire.

On a glorious sunny spring day our U18's team took on their Warwickshire counterparts at the stunning Walmley GC. 

Unfortunately, only 24 hours before match day, three of our selected players were unable to play and so we frantically sent out availability emails to many of our County Juniors. Fortunately, in the 11th hour we confirmed the 8 players we we're going to take. With Hagley's Oli Badger and Euan Choi both making their U18's debut and along with the Gaudet Luce trio of Teddy Fee, Harry Evans and Alex Perry who only had four U18's appearances between them, this was truly a very young but exciting team.

Our pairings for the morning foursomes fell into place perfectly, and though stand-in Captain Mark Hewlett and Tom Blizzard fought hard it was our second pairing of George Stephens and Teddy Fee that earnt us our first point with a very impressive 5&3 victory, especially considering only a week before both lads were sidelined with injuries (dislocated shoulder & hip strain respectively). With our other Gaudet pair of Harry Evans and Alex Perry coming so close by taking their match to the final hole and the debut Hagley pair showing no signs of nerves, it was Warwickshire that had the morning 3-1 lead.

The afternoon singles really did flow one way then the other. MJ took on his England International opponent full of his usual confidence, however with his opponent -5 through 12 holes it was always going to be a tough match to come back from. Comfortable wins from Tom (who was never down) and an emphatic 4&3 victory from Harry, kept our chances alive. It was to be the two best performances of the day that came in next. Both Oli 4&3 and Euan 2up chalked up their first ever U18's points, putting the overall match level 5-5. It was unfortunately though the last hole that once again gave us no favours and though Alex fought bravely for a half point it was Warwickshire that came out overall winners with a very tight 6.5 - 5.5 victory.

I'd like to thank Walmley Golf Club for making us extremely welcome throughout the day, also to Mark Reynolds who acted as starter and I'd like to congratulate Warwickshire and wish them luck for the rest of the season.

A special thank you to all of our parents, especially those that helped out at such short notice. My thanks to Kev Fee, Mark Evans and Luke Perry for all of their help and support on the day. 

However my greatest thanks goes to every one of those eight boys. All of you made us extremely proud. With all of you moving up the order with every drop out you could have all been forgiven to think that you could be beat before you went out but not one of you did. You all fought and played for the three pears on your shirt and that attitude is the reason why we love our jobs, so we all thank every one of you.

Mark Hewlett

Worcestershire Junior Organiser & U18 Manager

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