UNION team manager Chris Mear is picking from strength for tomorrow’s Inter-District opener against Bradford.
The availability of top young players Jamie Bower and Nick Marsh and the return of Chris Dyson and Richard Broadley means that Mear can field just about his strongest possible side for the first Yorkshire Inter-District Golf Union clash of the season at Outlane.
“With both Jamie and Nick available and being able to welcome back Chris and Richard, I have been able to select probably one of the strongest teams, which hopefully can get us off to a winning start,” said Mear.
“Unfortunately, I have had to leave some quality players out of the first match, but the competition for places this year is very high. On the down side, Iain Powell of Hebden Bridge has decided to call it a day and he will be missed.”
With Marsh having transferred to Huddersfield, and the recall of Broadley, it means the Fixby club have five members in the 12-strong team, the other three being last season’s Order of Merit winner Aaron Schnacke, Brad Tupman and Andy Wilford.
Also in Mear’s top dozen is Matt Colcombe, fresh from helping his Longley Park club lift the Nine-Hole Clubs’ Championship at Hebden Bridge, where the one-handicapper shot a round of 69, and he is joined in the side by that day’s top performer, Dave Stafford, from Todmorden, who fired a superb 66.
The team is completed by Bradley Hall’s Andy Shaw, Steve Martin from West End and Mark Birkett from Halifax.
Last year the Halifax, Huddersfield Union got away to a very disappointing start when they were beaten 26-10 in the opener by Bradford at Shipley, but later rallied with wins over Leeds, York and Teesside to finish in fourth place in the table.
The Union’s Juniors went down to their second successive defeat, losing to Leeds at Longley Park, but it was a much improved performance on their opening defeat to Harrogate.
The two Joshs, Morton and McAspin bagged a 3&1 win, while Liam Dean and Henry Butterworth enjoyed an emphatic 5&4 victory.
In fact, the morning Foursomes could easily have finished all square at 6-6, but Josh Bailles and his partner, a late replacement from the home club George Castle, had to settle for a half in the final match which left Leeds leading at lunch 7-5.
Halifax, Huddersfield won four of the first seven matches in the afternoon, twice pulling level in the overall match score, but the lower handicapped Leeds players came strong at the back end to clinch the Singles 15-9 for an overall 22-14 victory. The home wins came from Connah Judson, Jon Fleetwood, Marcus Peel, McAspin, and another half from Bailles.
