The Cornwall County Mens Team suffered a second successive Channel League defeat at the hands of Somerset at Enmore Park yesterday.

In a close match the final score was a 9 - 6 win for the men in red. County Captain Charlie Phillips reports below.

Cornwall travelled to Enmore Park GC this weekend to play Somerset. This gave me an opportunity to rotate squad players and gave 6 players their chance to impress.

The weekend did not start well with Joe Reynard being pinged on the NHS app which forced his withdrawal. I stepped into the breach.

Enmore Park is a hilly tree lined parkland course set in the Quantock Hills and most of the team had never played there so the practice round was invaluable in preparation.

George Champion (Truro) and Justin Barnard (Tehidy Park) led the team out and in a tight match lost 18 to lose 2 down. Congratulations to Justin on his debut and welcome back George.

Tom Fox (Tehidy Park) and Matt Richards (West Cornwall) showed class is permanent with a faultless display dispatching their opponents by 6/5, welcome back Foxey!

Mark Grootz (Trevose) and Jon Hancock (Newquay) played well but were out putted by their opponents and lost 2 and 1, welcome back Jon.

Tom Stephens (Trevose) partnered Kieran Faulkner (Looe) with their match going all the way but Somerset hung on to win on 18. Welcome back Kieran.

I was partnered with debutant Josh Chapman the age difference being 44 years. In a tight game we managed to get 2 up with 2 to play… Somerset then birdied 17 and 18 to grab a half…

So 3.5 to 1.5 down at Lunchtime.

After lunch Richards playing top found the going tougher than the morning. Matt stated he had hit a couple of poor shots which helped his opponent to a 4&2 victory.

Fox again produced a faultless performance and eased home 3&2 - Unbeaten on the day. Impressive!

Perhaps the performance of the day was Tom Stephens beating Phil White one of the best players in the Southwest. Tom made a great birdie to match Whites birdie on 18 and being 1 up… that was that. Nice one!

Champion had a tight struggle in his halved match but as quoted….a fair result, it was close all day.

Chapman and Grootz succumbed on 15th and 16th respectively but well done Josh an impressive debut!

I lost on 17 but it was great to have the opportunity to represent Cornwall again in the first team, now covering 6 decades.

Barnard had an up and down match eventually winning 2 up after a bizarre 18th. Well done Justin a great debut.

Hancock was 4 down early on but fought back well to be 2 down with 3 to play. Jon finished birdie birdie birdie but it was just not good enough with his opponent Andy Ferris also making birdie on 17 and 18 ( second time that day ). Welcome back Hanks.

Faulkner played great golf to beat American college star Tom Trowbridge. On 18 Kieran hit his approach to 6 inches which was too good for Tom. Welcome back Kieran.

Although a loss, there were some positive signs. The squad showed a great togetherness and the atmosphere was upbeat.

It was great to see returning players do well and show their desire to play for Cornwall.

Matchsheet