Devon who lost the match for the first time in 10 years at Perranporth 12 months ago were keen to put the record straight but after the morning Foursomes, the Cornish seemed destined for victory once more.

Dominating in this format, the Cornish Pros were playing some sublime golf with each of their four winning pairs under par when taking their matches. The sole winning point for the Devon Pros came from the ‘young guns’ James Pickard (Honiton) and Mark Taylor (Exeter) who had a convincing 5 & 4 win over the experienced Cornish pair, Nick Rogers (Falmouth) and Nick Williams (St Enodoc)

At lunch 4-1 up, the atmosphere in the Cornish camp, with the help of former Devon stalwart Simon Wood, was certainly more jovial, but after a team talk from Devon Captain and home Professional, Rob Selley, Devon were up for the challenge.

AM FOURSOMES

K. Harper & P. Hendriksen lost to P. Turpin & G. Slater 1 Down
C. Gill & B. Martin lost to R. Sadler & G. Lenaghan 3 & 2
S. Mason & N. Holman lost to R. Binney & I. Ashenden 5 & 4
J. Pickard & M. Taylor beat N. Rogers & N. Williams 5 & 4
R. Selley & A. Buchanon lost to S. Richards & M. Rowe 3 & 2

AM SCORE: DEVON 1 CORNWALL 4

Selley’s plan of putting out strength at the top in the afternoon singles to get ‘points on the board quick’ certainly seemed to pay dividends. First, West Region No 1, Chris Gill (Exeter) put together some fine golf to win 5&4 over Russell Binney. This was quickly followed by another point to Devon as Sidmouth’s Kevin Harper beat Grant Slater (Trevose) 4&3. Cornwall hit back with a 2&1 win from their number one player, Richard Sadler (Killiow) over in-form Paul Hendriksen. The next two points came from Devon’s players of the day, James Pickard and Mark Taylor, Pickard winning his match 3&2 whilst Taylor won 2up.

The match was now finely balanced at 5 points each, with 5 matches still on the course.

The next 4 matches gave 2 further points to each side, so the score became Devon 7 Cornwall 7 with one match left on the course, between Devon Captain Rob Selley and Falmouth’s Nick Rogers for Cornwall.

Selley, who had played his best golf of the year stood on the tee 1up with 2 holes remaining. Both players hit good tee shots and Selley with 70 yards to go fired his pitch into 8 feet. With the tension growing, Rogers could not find the green with his second and chipped his third to 5 feet. Selley then calmly rolled his birdie putt in to give Devon an unlikely comeback victory by the smallest of margins 8-7.

At the Dinner and Presentation both Devon captain, Rob Selley, and Cornwall captain, Gary Lenaghan, thanked Teignmouth for their hospitality and warm welcome plus thanked Justin Manester and his team for setting up the course in such great condition.

PM SINGLES

C. Gill beat R. Binney 4 & 3
K. Harper beat G. Slater 4 & 3
P. Hendriksen lost to R. Sadler 2 & 1
M. Taylor beat I. Ashenden 2 up
J. Pickard beat P. Turpin 3 & 2
B. Martin lost to G. Lenaghan 1 down
S. Mason beat M. Rowe 2 up
N. Holman beat S. Richards 3 & 2
A. Buchanon lost to N. Williams 2 & 1
R. Selley beat N. Rogers 2 & 1

PM SCORE: DEVON 7 CORNWALL 3

FINAL RESULT: DEVON 8 CORNWALL 7

The victorious Devon team