Our final fixture of the 2025 Midland County league season was at Bridgnorth GC vs Shropshire and Herefordshire where the 1st team was trying to win 5/5 matches for the first time since Peter Adams' captaincy nearly 30 years ago! A halved match would be good enough for us to take the league title but the team were definitely chasing the 5/5 and to go into the record books.

 

The weather has been very good to us all season but decided to give us some fun and games for our last match.

 

The foursomes was reduced to 9 holes due to a 2 hour rain delay which forced everybody off the course due to the course being unplayable.

 

Worcestershire were led out by Nathan Slater and Cassius Blake in match 1 vs Tom Kerr and Jack Edwards....the boys played some excellent foursomes golf and won 2up.

 

Match 2 also went the way of Worcestershire as The Vale pairing of Alex Emms and Giles Blakely produced a fine display to take out James Showell and Ady Marshall 3&2.

 

Shropshire and Herefordshire got themselves back in the match with wins in match 3 and 4....Kieron Austin and Tom Godfrey played the home club duo of Cal Brown and Harry Morris in match 3, birdies flying in from all over the place and unfortunately Worcestershire narrowly went down by 1 hole.

 

Steve Lane and Luke Rogers took on Craig Simmons and Ross Magill in match 4 and with some uncharacteristic wayward drives from Lane meant they lost 3&2.

 

Match 5 involved Moseley pair of Captain Adam Norman and Richard Sadler taking on Nick Evans and Alex Allen, Birdies and bogeys in this clash but the Worcestershire pair ended up winning by 2 holes.

 

Another excellent foursomes performance away from home put us 3-2 up going into the afternoon singles.

 

Youngster Blake led Worcestershire out in match 1 vs S&H captain Kerr and got the ball rolling with a comfortable 3&2 victory.

 

Matches 2 and 3 produced more points for Worcestershire with Blakely earning half a point in match 2 vs Edwards and Emms getting his job done in emphatic style with a 6&5 victory over Showell.

 

Match 4 and 5 went the way of S&H as match 4 saw Slater come up against a very hot Marshall losing 7&5 with Godfrey up against the home boy Brown and home advantage just about came to the fore, even with Godfrey being -4 for his 18 holes it was still a 2 hole defeat.

 

Matches 6 & 7 had a Worcestershire pair of Lane and Rogers with the bit between their teeth, after losing their foursomes match they both ran out impressive 4&3 and 3&2 winners against Morris and Simmons respectively, Rogers ending Simmons' 5 year unbeaten singles record, well done Codg!

 

Worcestershire were on 7.5 points needing just half a point from the remaining 3 matches left on the course.

 

Sadler was involved in a seriously tight game in match 8 against Magill but unfortunately went down by 1 hole.

 

The winning point came in match 10 as captain Norman managed to get the victory that was needed with a 2&1 win vs Allen.

 

The day was topped off in match 9 as Austin produced some excellent golf at the finish to earn a 1 hole victory.

 

WORCESTERSHIRE WIN 9.5-5.5 and make it 5 wins out of 5, a fantastic achievement! 

 

 

Thank you to Bridgnorth GC for hosting the match, the course was in excellent condition and we were well looked after with food and drinks throughout the day.

 

Thank you to our usual supporters of the 1st team...President John Whitehead and past Presidents Ian Rone and Brian Peplow, your support is greatly appreciated by all the players so thank you.

 

As this is my final match as Captain I would just like to say what a privilege it has been leading this group of players over the last 2 years so thank you to every player that has played during my captaincy and to finish in the way we have has been brilliant! 

 

We've got a fantastic group of players with a blend of very talented youth and the much needed older experience so I believe Worcestershire will be a very tough team to beat over the next few years. 

 

I'll be handing the reins over to Tom Godfrey from Fulford Heath GC for the next 2 years, Tom is an unbelievable player and has all the attributes to be a great captain. All the best Tom.

 

We'll be celebrating this years achievement in style at some point so look out for that!!

 

Adam Norman