Essex became National county champions over the weekend at Whittington Heath Golf Club, with our very own Charlie Rusbridge being part of the winning team. The National County Championship is played for between 4 counties that made it through their regional qualifiers. Essex were competing against Cumbria, Lincolnshire and Gloucestershire. Celebrating their centenary as well as England Golf, Essex had only won the trophy once previously 15 years ago!
Essex started their week with a halved match with Cumbria on day one which left them all to do over the next 2 days. The second day saw them take on arguably their strongest challengers in Lincolnshire. Essex had a great day with Charlie winning both his foursomes and singles matches to help them to an important win. On the final day they had to beat Gloucestershire to take the title. After a strong morning, Essex were left needing to win 3 of their 6 singles matches in the afternoon. Will Horne from Orsett won the vital point to give Essex the huge title. Will lost his father only 2 weeks ago so it was a really fitting for him to gain the crucial point. It was great to see Colne Valley members, Don, Russ, Sue and Graham Drysdale come and support which I know Charlie and the team really appreciated. Essex have a really strong squad and it wouldn’t be that surprising to see them have a good chance of defending their title next year.