SENIOR TEAM CROWNED LEAGUE CHAMPIONS

The Sheffield Union senior squad clinched the Yorkshire Inter District Union championship yesterday in a thrilling climax to a topsy-turvy season.

Victorious team captain Richard Hodgkinson described this year’s league as “the most exciting by a mile” after he witnessed evergreen Gary Fullwood sink a 15ft birdie putt to snatch the title at the death.

The Wath player was one down on the 18th in his singles and his resulting half gave the team an 18-18 tie with defending champions York at Hickleton GC.

Gary Fullwood: Man with a hot putter

With close rivals Halifax-Huddersfield losing 24-12 against Bradford at Northcliffe the putt was the one that lifted the crown.

Sheffield trailed 8-4 after the foursomes against York revealing the team’s Achilles Heel.

Richard said: “We have been much stronger in the singles this year than the foursomes. In our one loss of the season against Teesside we were 9-3 down after the foursomes – it is something we recognised and have worked on over the year.”

The final match of the season proved a nail-bitter all day, said Richard.

Victorious Captain Richard Hodgkinson

“Quite a few of the afternoon games went down the 18th, and Abbeydale’s Tim Brind, chipped in to win his game.

“At that point York didn’t need very many to get over the line and we needed to win most of them – and we won four of the last five and halved the other.”

One of the late singles wins came from the veteran Richard himself who slotted into the team at the last minute to replace the injured Dominic Moon.

After winning his foursomes match alongside Lewis Hollingworth (Tankersley Park), he secured an emphatic 6&5 singles victory, which enabled him to gather with the rest of Sheffield’s players to watch Fullwood complete his match.

With the match tied at 17-17 and the Wath player one down, he knew he had to win the hole if Sheffield were to stand any chance of the title.

“It’s a par-5 and he played it perfectly with a lovely drive, nice second and a third to about 15ft,” said Richard.

The victorious team will be seeking to retain the Inter District Union Team Championships being held at Bingley St Ives on Sunday.

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