HERTS county team staged a thrilling fight-back to win the Northern section of the South East League by beating home team Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxon at Stoke Park. Trailing 3-1 in the foursomes, they swept aside the opposition to win the singles

HERTS county team staged a thrilling fight-back to win the Northern section of the South East League by beating home team Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxon at Stoke Park.

Trailing 3-1 in the foursomes, they swept aside the opposition to win the singles by 61/2 to 11/2 for an overall 71/2 to 41/2 result to claim the match and the league.

BB&O got off to a strong start, only the Herts senior pairing of John Ambridge and Greg Schmidt gaining a point with a 4&2 win.

Shrugging off the morning lapse, Herts had soon reduced the deficit and gone into the lead.

Early wins from Graham Povey by 2&1, Tom Shadbolt 6&5 and Greg Schmidt 6&5 led the way, and James Watts turned a one-hole deficit into a one-hole win.

As BB&O took matches all the way, Nick Pateman held on to win by two holes at the 18th, and Sam Claridge snatched a match winning half at the 18th, while John Ambridge 2&1 completed an exceptional team victory as anchor man.

Herts now play the winners of the Southern section at Hankley Common on October 4 in the men's county finals.

Herts have been unbeaten this season with victories over Middlesex 71/2 to 41/2 and Bedfordshire 10-2, and a halved match against Essex, 6-6.

Herts last won the Northern section in 2007 and then played Southern winners Sussex in the county finals and lost by a point - 61/2 to 51/2.

ANDY Collie and Josh Johnson shot a three under par 137, only under par total of the day, to win the Herts inter-club foursomes at Harpenden Common.

In the last match of the day rounds of 70 and 67 beat off the challenges of Verulam A (Louis Matamala and James Surridge), 141, Stevenage A (Tyrone Carter and Dave Gibson) 142 and Harpenden Common A (Sam Claridge and Dick Dew) 143.

SAMUEL Ryder, the St Albans seeds merchant who became Verulam Golf Club's most famous member, will be remembered when the annual Samuel Ryder Trophy match is played at the club on Saturday, September 12.

The match was inaugurated to recognise his service to the club, being captain three times, and his support for professional golf which led to him donating the unique solid gold trophy for the Ryder Cup matches in 1927.

The match follows the format of the matches, with foursomes in the morning and fourballs in the afternoon, and is open to pairs of players up to nine handicap, with entry fee of �75 for morning coffee, lunch and celebration dinner.

Early entries to General Manager, Verulam Golf Club, 226 London Road, St. Albans, AL1 1RG.

HERTS girls Lucy Williams and Charlie Douglass battled against 30 miles an hour winds and rain in the British Ladies Stroke Play Championship over the Royal Aberdeen course, with no one beating par and the winner finishing 16 over.

Over the par 72 classic links course - straight out for nine holes and straight back - Lucy tied seventh at halfway with rounds of 81 76 and Charlie 25th, with 85 79, both making the cut. Lucy followed with 79 77 for a total of 313 and 15th place and Charlie 74 81 for 319 to be 19th.

The winner, Danielle McVeigh of Royal County Down, had rounds of 75 79 74 76 for 304, 16 over par.

Charlie returns to Scotland as a member of the England team for the home internationals at Irvine, Ayrshire, from September 9-11.

AFTER his victory in the Boys Amateur Championship, Tom Lewis (Welwyn Garden City) takes his place in the Great Britain and Ireland team for the Jacques Leglise Trophy against the Continent of Europe at Ganton tomorrow (Friday) and Saturday.

MARTIN McKenna (Letchworth) retained the Herts Seniors Championship at Aldenham after trailing by six strokes after the first round.

Peter Bax (Mid Herts) led with72 but slipped back with 81 for a total of 153 for third place as McKenna followed 78 with 73 for 151 to hold on to the title, and make it a double as he also won his club championship.

Bill McIntyre (Harpenden) 80 73 was runner-up on countback, 153.

Donald Longmuir (Verulam) 77 78, was the over 60s winner and Geoff Kirby (Porters Park) won the under-60s, 83 75.