Paul Caldicott and Andrew Gibson displayed admirable tenacity to win the Northumberland and Durham Inter County Foursomes Championship at Westerhope.
Both county players, Caldicott has played 25 times and Gibson won the county 72-hole Strokeplay title in 2016 – the pair were by no means favourites to win the title for The Northumberland Golf Club, whose last victory came in 1996.
Most expected Tyneside’s dream team of former Durham County Strokeplay and Matchplay Champions Kris Rae and James Wilson to do the business and they didn’t look like disappointing as they cruised through to the Durham final. But the Tyneside pair then came up against Aaron Scott and Will Marshall, seeking the title for the first time in Heworth’s history.
With Scott’s prodigious tee shots – he drove the green on a couple of 300-yard-plus holes – Heworth went on to win the Durham title 1up.
Caldicott and Gibson, having had to go the 21st hole to beat Slaley Hall on their way to the Northumberland final, just got the better of Alnmouth’s Luke Denny and Richard Gander 2up to win their county final. It looked like Heworth would be celebrating when they went 2up with five threes in the first six holes.
“They started like a train and we thought we were going to get thrashed,” said the Northumberland duo. “We just tried to make pars and stay in it.”
It worked as Northumberland dropped just one shot all day and clawed their way back and into the lead after 12. With both side missing good birdie chances on the closing holes Gibson and Caldicott managed to edge home to lift the title with a 2&1 win.
