The Cornwall U14 and U16 Boys team put in an improved performance at this year’s SWCGA Championship staged at The Kendleshire last Friday to finish third out of the 6 counties competing.

After their performance in last year’s championship, it was decided to once again travel up the day before for a practice round with the assistance of PGA Professional Jason Avery.

On arrival lunch was provided for the team followed by a team talk from Jason. The team was then led out to the “zone” and a superbly structured session was put on by Jason testing all sorts of chipping from different positions including bunker play. The team were then put into groups of three and went out onto the course. Course planners were given to everyone and plenty of notes were taken by all players.

After the practice round we travelled the very short distance back to the Premier Inn where the team was given an hour to chill out. At 8pm the team all sat together and helped themselves to an excellent meal followed by some time to themselves. The lads went outside to play football and it was noted that their behaviour was impeccable and everyone one of the team was involved giving a great team spirit.

Match Day

The Kendleshire was in immaculate condition and the weather was kind with just a light wind.

Captain Joe Reynard was the first player of the day to tee off and he split the fairway to set the tone for the day. He followed this up with a fine two over par 73 which was the fourth best score of the day, in what was a very talented field, and the best of the Cornish scores

Second best Duchy scorer was England international George Leigh who, whilst not firing on all cylinders, still managed to grind out a steady 76 which saw him finish eighth overall.

After signing their cards, Captain and Vice Captain Joe and George then showed a touch of class by returning straight out onto the course to support their team.

After nine holes there was some excitement in the Cornwall camp, as news filtered through that some of the young guns were playing superb golf, Ewan Warren had only dropped one shot,  ZacK Cook two, Cameron Gurd four, Lewis Bradley four, Lewis Woolaway and Thomas Stephens five and Jack Andrew six.

Unfortunately the Kendleshire showed it’s teeth on the much tougher back nine which demands accurate driving and has plenty of water to catch out stray shots.

The impressive Zack Cook recorded a final gross 80 which was the third best Under 14 round of the day. He was joined on the same score by Ewan Warren and Lewis Bradley who both got caught out on the devilishly difficult final hole with a triple and double bogey respectively.

Cameron Gurd joined Lewis Woolaway on 83 and Thomas Stephens shot 85 with Jack Andrew one behind on 86.

The 555 total was enough to give Cornwall third place and for the third year running saw them improve on the previous years results.

Under 16 Manager Gary Andrew said “On the whole I am very pleased with the team’s performance, The Kendleshire is  a stunning course but a stern test of golf with many water hazards ready to catch you out. Third place is once again an improvement on last year and we have definitely got a forward momentum going on. I was delighted with Team Captain Joe Reynard’s performance on and off the course, he was a role model to the younger players and generated a tremendous team bond that was acknowledged by other Counties. The lads behaviour was impeccable and they were a credit to Cornwall Golf Union”

Full scores are available on the SWCGA website for the time being on the live scoring feature.

The team are pictured above (from L to R): Thomas Stephens (Truro), George Leigh (Trevose), Lewis Woolaway (China Fleet), Joe Reynard (Trevose), Ewan Warren (St Austell), Jack Andrew, Cameron Gurd (Truro), Lewis Bradley (St Enodoc) and Zack Cook (Perranporth)