Welsh Men’s Inter Counties title retained at Porthmadog
Glamorgan took another significant step to a very special double double as they retained the Welsh Men’s Inter Counties title at Porthmadog last night.
FORMAT: team 18-hole pairs (2 from 3 counting) / stroke play (5 from 6 counting)
The six-man squad overcame tough conditions to finish 16 shots clear of Caernarfonshire. Once again St Athan’s Keiron Harman led the way, shooting a 65 in the morning pairs along Nick James (Vale Resort) and then a level par 71 on a day when no one got under par in the singles.
Last year Glamorgan won the Channel League for the first time since 2009 and this year have won all four matches so far. This Sunday they entertain Somerset before finishing with what is expected to be a winner-takes-all showdown with English county champions Gloucestershire on October 2.
Manager Rhys Clark was delighted with the way his team stuck to the task in hand as the conditions toughened up yesterday.
“On Sunday the wind started getting up in the late morning and they also cut the greens after the pairs.
“The conditions were really tricky and it was difficult to get the ball close to the hole but our boys did what they had to do and got up and down when they needed to.”
Winning Glamorgan squad:
• Jordan Price-Davies (county captain – Glamorganshire)
• Nick James (Vale Resort)
• Kieron Harman (St Athan)
• Luke Thomas (Mountain Ash)
• Stuart Clark (Whitchurch)
• Richard Hooper (Neath)
Harman, who won the Trubshaw Cup in May and also managed a top ten finish at the Berkshire Trophy, was again a picture of consistency. He was superb in helping his county win at Llandrindod Wells and again this year was the best player on the show.
In the pairs he and James shot a six under par 65 to help Glamorgan build up a four-shot lead on day one before being one of just two players to shoot 71 yesterday. Flintshire’s Chris Pierce beat him to the individual prize on countback.
Both other Glamorgan pairs finished strongly to finish with 67s and leave their side four ahead of 2019 champions Caernarfonshire going into the singles.
Harman was ably backed up by Neath’s Richard Hooper, who managed a one-over-par 72 while their other counting scores came from Whitchurch’s Stuart Clark (75), Mountain Ash’s Luke Thomas (75) and captain Jordan Price-Davies (76).