The Lancashire players welcomed the Staffordshire and Herefordshire team to Blackburn Golf Club on a windy but fine day.

The course had suffered with 15 inches of rain in the last 3 months and, whilst the greens were fine, a sensible decision was taken to play preferred lies as some balls were picking up mud.

Morning Greensomes

Lancashire got off to a flyer winning the first 3 matches very comfortably before David Barker and Tony Harrop edged a tight match against Bill Bromilow and Norman Fletcher.

 The last two matches were also very close with both matches ending All Square leaving Lancashire ahead by 4 point to 2 at lunch.

Afternoon Fourballs

The afternoon continued the theme of very close matches with all six matches finishing on the last hole.

In the top match, Ian Crowther and Gary Byrne pulled ahead in the last four holes to complete the double.

 Stephen Matthews and Peter Darlington halved the second match exchanging last hole birdies and, in the third game, Tony Flanagan and Ian Owens won the last hole with a birdie to square their match.

 Bill Bromilow and Norman Fletcher then reversed their morning result in another close encounter where they held off a late fightback by David Barker and Tony Harrop before Ken Roe and David Heap secured yet another halved match on the last.

The bottom match went the way of Lancashire with Adrian Smith and Clive Appleby securing both points in a nerveless display on the 18^th green.

Overall, this seemed a comfortable win for Lancashire but 9 matches were decided on the 18^th green so the result was a lot closer than the score suggests.

As usual, all the players enjoyed the friendly post-match hospitality and meal.

Stephen Matthews

Lancashire Team Captain

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