ABBEYDALE ARE THE 2018 TEAM CHAMPIONS OF YORKSHIRE !

Over the last twenty five years or so, Abbeydale Golf Club has entered the Yorkshire Team Championship and enjoyed mixed success in the lower divisions. The last two seasons have seen a revival in their fortunes as they managed to climb their way up to the 2nd Division, a feat that may have seemed impossible a few years ago.

All of that changed however during a magical two weeks of golf which saw the South Sheffield club win both the 2nd Division title at Ilkley Golf Club and then, in what can only be called a “Leicester City moment” they showed all of the clubs in Yorkshire a clean pair of heels in winning the Yorkshire Team Championship on a memorable day at Rotherham Golf Club, Thrybergh.

In the 2nd Division at Ilkey, the Abbeydale trio of Tim Brind, Josh Wright and Jack Leversidge led the home club by three shots after the morning round with a score of 215 with Hallamshire GC a shot further back in third place.

Any thoughts of Abbeydale just hanging on to their lead in the afternoon round were swiftly dispelled by their three players shooting a combined score of 207 for a huge nine shot victory over a fast finishing Hallamshire for whom England International Alex Fitzpatrick recorded an outstanding round of 64, five under par on the challenging Ilkley course.

Having only been in the 2nd Division for the last couple of seasons and with this victory still fresh in their minds, it would have been quite easy for the Abbeydale team of Brind, Wright and Leversidge to lose focus when teeing it up with the big boys at Rotherham GC two weeks later for the Yorkshire Union of Golf Clubs’ blue ribbon team event, the Yorkshire Team Championship.

Abbeydale had never played at this level in the whole of their club’s history, but their talented team members managed to stay “in the moment” and come in for lunch in second place with a score of 209, trailing Fulford GC, York by a single shot.  

In the afternoon round at Thrybergh, with the scorching summer heat affecting many of the players in the field, Abbeydale showed great golfing maturity to record  a score of 215 and a 36 hole total of 424. The terrific consistency of their performance can be seen from the individual team member scores of Tim Brind 141, Jack Leversidge 141 and Josh Wright 142 over the par 70 Rotherham course.

There was then an agonising wait to see whether any of the other seventeen clubs could surpass this total and rob Abbeydale of what would be an amazing fairy tale victory.

In the end, Fulford had to settle for second place as they came up one shot short on 425 and Middlesbrough who put in a bit of a second round surge finished in third on 426.

So the lads from Abbeydale Golf Club are Yorkshire Team Champions, a feat that was achieved by Rotherham GC back in 2005 when a very young Danny Willett played his part in this premier county team event.

Abbeydale now go on to national media exposure by being Yorkshire’s representative in the English Champion Club event at Huddersfield Golf Club on the 22nd and 23rd September.

It has been a very long journey for Abbeydale, from playing in the 7th Division back in the 1990s to winning the Yorkshire Team Championship in 2018. They are really looking forward to playing in the prestigious England Golf event in a few months’ time and will represent both Sheffield and Yorkshire with considerable pride.

Tim Jackson, on behalf of Abbeydale Golf Club