FORMAT: 4-team matchplay round-robin
There were tears of joy as Yorkshire won their third Senior Men’s County title in five years at Rothley Park in Leicestershire last night.
The Northern champions, runners-up to Sussex in 2021 at Grange Park, beat Kent 5-4 to remain undefeated in an incredibly close-fought contest in which runners-up Wiltshire and third-placed Kent both had their chances. In the final reckoning the top three were were separated by just 1.5 game points but critically the White Rose men beat Wiltshire 5.5-3.5 on the opening day before drawing with Warwickshire on Wednesday.
Yesterday all three leading counties went in knowing they could take the spoils, if the other result went their way, but critically for Yorkshire they got ahead in the foursomes while their bottom order delivered in style. Yorkshire Seniors champion Dave Sanby (Rotherham) won 5&4 in the bottom tie while just ahead of him Garforth’s Steve Cain took his tie 6&4 before an emotional Andy Woodhead ensured victory (3&2) against Danny Holmes.
The Hessle stalwart told England Golf: “I was in tears when I won my game on the 16th. Having lost last year it’s not a pleasant feeling so to get revenge and come away as winners is great.
“It was a big team effort from all eight players. Only six can play but we had a good rotation policy.
“This year we got it bang on.
“It meant a lot to me to win two games today and to get one of the big winning points in the afternoon.
“We have a lot of clubs in Yorkshire, more than a team such as Wiltshire. But you’ve still got to bring eight guys with you that can do it and we have.”
Yorkshire captain Andy King made some big calls in the final singles, leaving out Ian Backhouse (Sand Moor) and Stephen East (Ganton). The duo had combined beautifully in the foursomes and racked up three victories plus both had also won well in the singles on the opening day against Wiltshire.
Yorkshire squad:
• Stephen East (Ganton)
• Ian Backhouse (Sand Moor)
• Andy Woodhead (Hessle)
• Ian Clarke (Lindrick)
• Richard Jones (Rotherham)
• Richard Norton (Beverley & ER)
• Dave Sanby (Rotherham)
• Steve Cain (Garforth)
However it paid off royally for King who was involved in Yorkshire’s victories at Goswick (2017) and Effingham (2019)
The Yorkshire captain said: “It feels absolutely fantastic. Whoever designed or invented this golf event – big congratulations to them!
“The players have loved playing in it and we love coming to this stage and competing and we’ll be trying to get here again next year.
“I am proud of the players. Sometimes you need the tail to wag and the lads at the end of the order did the business for us.”