Sheffield’s all-conquering season was rounded off in style at the Yorkshire Inter-District Team Championship at Rotherham on Sunday.
FORMAT: 36-hole team stroke play
The recently-crowned league champions certainly made home advantage count as they finished 23 shots clear of Halifax & Huddersfield to retain the title they won at Hornsea last year.
Last month Sheffield made history by recording what is believed to be the first-ever 36-0 win in the Inter District League (over unfortunate York) and earlier this month made it seven wins out of seven by thumping nearest rivals Leeds 33-3.
Sheffield Inter-District team:
• George Ash (Hallowes)
• Charlie Daughtrey (Rotherham)
• Lewis Hollingworth (Rotherham)
• Luca Houlgate (Waterfront)
• Oliver Smith (Sickleholme)
• Jack Whaley (Rotherham)
And Sheffield secretary Graham Needham was struggling to recall a more impressive season in terms of all-round dominance. The juniors also won the league two weeks ago and finished second in the Junior Team Championship, Teesside denying them a four-pronged clean sweep.
“I’ve been doing the job since 2005 and I can’t recall a better season in terms of the size of the wins we have had.”
The champions had three Rotherham players in the ranks to bolster the home advantage but once again Hallowes’ George Ash led the way. The English Amateur finalist was the leading individual, just beating team-mate Oliver Smith (Sickleholme) on countback while host club player Lewis Hollingworth was just a shot further back alongside Hessle’s Aaron Brettell for East Riding.
With five out of six scores counting, Sheffield started strongly with their worst counting effort in the morning coming from Rotherham’s Jack Whaley (71).
It left them five clear of Halifax & Huddersfield, who were boosted by Josh McAspurn’s 67, which was the lowest round of the day.
After lunch the host side just maintained that pace and their worst second-round effort was 72 which saw them extend their lead by 18 shots and remain under par overall.