Milton Juniors seal a League and Cup Double In an all Peterborough Milton NGL Junior Final played at their home course it was the PMGC C Team who triumphed 3.5 to 0.5 in their match against PMGC B. Junior Captain Sam Balaam (C squad) and Vice Captain Jade Roberts (B Squad) played a Celebrity Challenge Match ahead of the final and in an amazingly close game which swung from side to side it was Jade's excellent par save at the last which secured a fitting halved match. In the Final matches the lower handicap C team were giving shots in all matches and used their experience to get off to a fast start taking an early lead in all four matches. It was great to see Robin Williams at the first tee supporting the final just back from his latest Top 20 ( and joint 2nd Amateur) finish on the MENA Tour in Abu Dhabi following his win in Jordan the previous week. Well done Robin. In match three, 7 handicap Ollie Clark (C team) only dropped a handful of shots and despite a strong comeback by 21 handicap Megan Chandler midround it was Ollie who finished the match in style with a birdie on the tough 14th hole to put the C team one match ahead. In Match two, 6 handicap Shivani Karthikeyan (C Team) was fast out the blocks against 13 handicap Emily Horsted and Shivani moved 4 up early in the game. Try as she might, B Team Captain Emily could not significantly reduce the deficit thanks to Shivani's steady play and it was Shivani who closed out the game 4&3. In Match three, 10 handicap Oscar Bell (C Team) took an early lead with steady play but 23 handicap Ellie Horsted started to use her shots well and the game was back to all square at the turn. However Oscar's excellent short game came to the fore on the back 9 and Oscar sealed the C team's league title on the 15th green. Meanwhile match one was nip and tuck all the way round and fittingly all the players and officials were able to walk up the 18th hole for the conclusion. C Team captain five handicapper Rylan Thomas took an early lead but 8 handicapper Charlie Pearce fought back to get one ahead at the turn. It was all square again after 14 but Charlie eased one ahead on 16th. With Charlie making an excellent par 4 from the trees on 17th, Rylan duly saved par from the bunker to head down the 18th one down. In a quality match that neither player deserved to lose it was perhaps fitting in a nervy finish that Rylan scrambled a win on 18th to halve the match. Final result PMGC 3.5 PMGC 0.5 and Captain Rylan Thomas accepted the trophy from NGL Vice President Kathryn Stronach to secure Peterborough Milton Juniors their 3rd NGL League title in the last 4 years. With members of the A squad and players from the successful CAGU Cup winning team also present, all League and Cup Junior Squad members then received very well deserved League and Cup double winners medals to repeat the feat of the 2016 squad. Thank you to referees Captain Mike, Ladies Captain Karen, Ladies VC Sandra, Ladies Past Captain Elaine and Roving Scoreboard Services from Clark who all helped to make it a special occasion. Very well played to the whole Junior Squad we are very proud of all you are achieving. A massive thank you also, to coaches Adam and Sam - who work so hard with our juniors to improve their games - with great results. Charles and Derek |