DEVON GOLF
DEVON U14 BOYS WIN JACK ROBERTS SOUTH WEST LEAGUE
Harry Lee, Cyril Gosling, Danny Chart, Aidan Mulligan
The Devon Boys U14 team kicked off their 2024 Jack Roberts South West League fixtures on 8th April at a very windy St Enodoc Golf Club with the Channel course providing a stern test for all players. Stover's Braydon Cotton and Cyril Gosling, Saunton's Archie Johnson and Churston's Harry Lee were all making their debut at county level. Selecting the correct pairings for the morning foursomes matches proved to be crucial to the overall result with Devon taking the morning foursomes matches 3-1. A spirited comeback from Cornwall to win the afternoon singles matches 4½-3½ ensured a very close finish with Devon taking the match 6½-5½, an excellent result away from home.
Devon's next fixture was against Dorset at Torquay Golf Club on 16th August. With Harry Lee unavailable, 11-year old Nicholas Locke from Staddon Heights made his debut. After three off the first four morning foursomes matches Devon held a 2-1 lead, last out were Archer Johnson and Nicholas Locke and they came in with an impressive 4-3 win. Once again Devon took the morning foursomes matches 3-1 but a strong performance by Dorset in the afternoon singles saw Devon and Dorset share the singles matches at 4-4 to give Devon an overall victory by 7-5 and 2 wins from 2 matches.
Our next fixture was at home to Somerset at Churston Golf Club on 22nd August, a murky and windy start for the morning foursomes. Devon halved the first match then won the second. The third match saw Devon's captain Will Mulholland (Churston) partnering another debutant Xander Thorburn from Staddon Heights. It was a hard-fought game that finished all square on the 9th putting Devon 2-1 ahead. Cyril Gosling and Danny Chart (Churston) won the last match 2-1 to give Devon a 3-1 lead from the morning foursomes. The afternoon singles saw a remarkable performance from Devon winning 7½ -5 for an incredible 10½ to 1½ win, even more remarkable was that Devon did not lose a single match on the day.
Three wins from three matches put Devon in a very strong position needing just 4½ points from 12 heading into their final match away to holders Wiltshire at High Post Golf Club on 6th October. Devon's task was made even more difficult when our two lowest handicap players, Harry Cann (Saunton) and William Mulholland, were called away to Cumberwell Park for a South West U18 Boy's Squad Assessment Day. Although both were gutted to miss the match against Wiltshire, the opportunity to attend the U18 assessment was one not to be missed. With strength in depth the 8 boys selected for Devon were confident that they could get the 4½ points needed, but the scale of the task was a tough one as Wiltshire's highest handicap player was 7 with just two of Devon's team with lower handicaps. Devon's target for the morning foursomes matches was ideally a 2-2 draw but some excellent golf from Wiltshire saw them take the first 2 matches. Our third pairing of Danny Chart and Cyril Gosling held a 3-up lead early on with par golf and closed out their match 4-3. In the fourth match Aiden Mulligan (Thurlestone) and Xander Thorburn were 2-up with 2 to play but sadly lost the 8th hole to go to the 9th 1-up. An excellent drive from Xander left Aiden with a 9 iron to the green and he produced a stunning shot, hitting it to within 8-feet of the flag. Wiltshire's second shot came up fairly short on the front of the green to leave them a long birdie put to win the hole, which they missed. Wiltshire also missed their par putt leaving Devon with two putts to win the hole which they did to win the match 2-up. This gave Devon the targeted 2 points from the morning foursomes with 2½ points needed from the 8 singles matches to win The Jack Roberts League.
The afternoon singles saw Devon's Archie Griffiths (Sidmouth) tee off first, taking on Wiltshire's highly regarded player Riley Banks. Devon's Harry Lee faced another tough task in the second match against Wiltshire's Charlie O'Dowd. With all 8 matches through the front 9 Devon held a 1-up lead in 4 matches, Archer Johnson 3-up through 9 and Aiden Mulligan 5-up and Devon 3-down and 2-down in the other two matches, a promising position at this point. Early on Archie was holding a 1-up lead in his match and Harry had been pegged back from a 2-up lead to all square. Archer and Aiden, both of whom had held comfortable leads, were facing some spirited golf by their opponents.
Wiltshire took the first two points in the afternoon singles with Lucas Gale winning 5-3 against Xander Thorburn and Freddie Hole defeating Cyril Gosling 3-2. Braydon Cotton won the 17th hole to win his match 2-1 to give Devon their first point in the afternoon, leaving Devon just needing 1½ points from the remaining 5 matches. Harry Lee succumbed to Charlie O'Dowd 2-1 and Danny Chart lost to by the same score to George Mathais. At this point Wiltshire held a 6-3 lead with three matches still on the course. Archie headed up the 18th 1-up and an excellent up and down for a par was good enough to win the hole for a 2-up win. This meant just a ½ point was needed from two matches for Devon. Aiden was 1-up playing 17 and Archer all square on 18. All attention was on Aiden who needed to halve the hole to guarantee the 4½ points needed. Aiden's opponent Beau Sampson's par putt was a little strong and consequently missed his bogey putt, leaving Aiden to hole out from 2-feet to win the hole and secure a 2-1 win to Devon their decisive 5th point in the match just as the news came from the 18th that Archer had also got up and down for a par on 18 to win the hole and his match for a 1-up win. The afternoon singles finished all square and the match score 6-6, a remarkable result away from home. With three wins and one draw from 4 matches Devon were crowned the South West Boys U14 Champions winning The Jack Roberts League Trophy.
My thanks to all of the players for the way they have conducted themselves on and off the golf course. It's been an absolute pleasure for me to manage such a hard-working and talented team. As ever, none of this is achievable without the support of parents and grandparents who have travelled many miles to support the whole team throughout the season.
Brian Newman
U12 & U14 Devon Boys' Team Manager
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