The first match of the new 2025 league season was a home fixture vs Derbyshire at Moseley GC.

 

Having come so close in the league last year and feel like we're maybe owed one, there seems to be a great deal of confidence and determination in the squad to make 2025 a winning season.

 

In near perfect conditions with weather and golf course, everything was set for Worcestershire to hopefully start the season off with a bang!

 

The team consisted of some usual faces along with some 'blasts from the pasts' and it was a pleasure to welcome back into the county 1st team Steve Clarke, Tom Godfrey and Luke Rogers.

 

The morning foursomes was led out by Kieron Austin and Steve Clarke in match 1 against a very strong pair of Anthony Plummer and Nick Newbold and the Derbyshire pair certainly found the greens to their liking with an impressive 5&3 victory.

 

Better news was on the horizon for Worcestershire as Alex Emms and Nathan Slater paired up in match 2, having been seen in some interesting positions off the tees early on...there was more than enough good golf in there to take their match 2&1.

 

Match 3 saw Steve Lane and Mark Hewlett Jnr pair up, with some steady foursomes golf and excellent short game skills they eventually got the job done on 18 securing a 2up victory.

 

In match 4 there was a little bit of extra pressure on the Moseley pair of Adam Norman and Richard Sadler, some indifferent golf on the front 9 meant there was plenty of work to be done on the back and managed to find some birdies resulting in a 2&1 victory.

 

3-1 to Worcestershire with the new pairing of Luke Rogers and Tom Godfrey in match 5. A fast start saw them 3up early on and it just kept getting better as the round went on  extending their lead with some excellent golf running out 6&5 winners!

 

A fantastic 4-1 morning session to Worcestershire.

 

The afternoon singles were led out by Emms and Austin in matches 1 and 2, both with extremely tough tasks and unfortunately both went down losing

2&1 and 1 down respectively.

 

Matches 3 and 4 had mixed results for Worcestershire, match 3 saw Slater show some mental strength to gain a fantastic 3&2 victory quickly followed by the disappointment of Sadler suffering defeat in match 4 by the same score.

 

Derbyshire creeping their way back into the match with the score at 5-4.

 

Those tensions were eased greatly by the middle order as Clarke and Lane both gained convincing victories winning 4&2 in matches 5 and 6 and Hewlett Jnr grinding out a 1up victory in match 7 to take Worcestershire to the magic 8 points.

 

Rogers came up against some seriously long putts being held in match 8 and unfortunately went down 3&2.

 

Matches 9 and 10 produced 2 battling half points as Norman and Godfrey were both 1 down playing the 18th but managed to avoid defeat and add to the Worcestershire tally.

 

A solid 9-6 victory to start the season off nicely and look forward to the matches ahead.

 

A few thank you's starting with Moseley Golf club for looking after us throughout the day with excellent food and beverage and also the golf course was in absolutely stunning condition, I think all of the county lads are looking forward to returning for this years county championships in June.

 

To the county officials, President John Whitehead for his continuous support, past presidents Brian Peplow and David McGilvary and also treasurer Jon Cray....your support is greatly appreciated.

 

Our next match is against Staffordshire at Trentham GC so we'll be looking to continue our strong start on Sunday 1st June.

 

Adam Norman

County Captain