Leek Junior Section hosted the inaugural Junior Festival Match against Westwood. The format was 4BBB with 4 four ball pairings set to decide the winners of the new Junior Festival Trophy which had been kindly donated by the Festival Committee.

The Leek team pairings were: Liam Hancock & Harry Fearn / Luke Brass (Junior Captain) & Dan Bourne / Calum Nixon & Jake Willshaw / Leann Nixon & Tom Willshaw.

Due to absentees from the Westwood team we "loaned" Josh Smith for the fouth pairing, which was excellent sportsmanship for Josh to agree to this, so much so that he won his match on his own!

Due to a later than anticipated start, and the need to feed 15 juniors who had missed their tea, the match was restricted to 15 holes. Leek won the opening two matches, but with Josh Smith winning for Westwood, the outcome of the match rested on the third pairing. Emergency plans were introduced in case of a tied match, which involved sending a low handicap pairing to the 150 yard marker on the 18th for a Par 3 play-off. However, cool play on the 14th green from Calum Nixon and Jake Willshaw saw them win the hole to go 1 up with one to play, and an "honourable" draw was declared. This resulted in a final match score of 3 1/2 : 1 1/2 in favour of Leek.

The post match meal was hosted by The Captain, Roy Morris and Brian Baggaley the Festival Organiser. A short presentation followed the meal and Luke Brass accepted the new Trophy from The Captain on behalf of Leek.

Thanks go to the Festival Committee for hosting the event, Jake Scragg for organising the match and Westwood Golf Club.

Peter Cordon

Junior Section