LEFT TO RIGHT: City of Newcastle’s Phil Riddle Alex Nixon and Andrew Minnikin who won the Albacom Trophy to be crowned European Club Champions at Bordeaux’s Golf du Medoc. Picture by EUROPEAN GOLF ASSOCIATION

CITY of Newcastle GC were crowned European Club Champions after a stunning fightback saw them defeat rivals from 24 other nations to win the Albacom Trophy at the finals in France.

England’s representatives from Northumberland started the day six shots adrift of Germany’s Stuttgarter GC at the Golf du Medoc resort near Bordeaux, as the cream of the continent battled for the European Men’s Club Trophy.

With two-out-of-three scores counting towards the team total, a pair of level par rounds from Alex Dixon and Andrew Minnikin left City of Newcastle in among the pack and requiring some final day fireworks.

Dixon duly obliged with a brilliant five-under par round of 66 and – allied with a one under par round of 70 from Phil Ridden – it allowed the English champions to add European glory to the national title won in some style last month, at Romford GC, in Essex.

A team total of six-under par for the two-day tournament was enough to leave all their rivals in the shade. Icelandic team GKG finished four shots adrift in second place.

Dixon’s final round included five birdies on the front nine and also helped him finish second in the individual event just a shot behind Frenchman Raphael Le Bot.

The three-man City of Newcastle team – all of whom have plus-three handicaps – stopped a winning run from home favourites Racing Club de France La Boulie, who entered the 45^th staging of the event looking to win their fourth title in five years.

The “Geordie boys” have made City of Newcastle just the third English club to be crowned European Champions since 1975.

Haway the Lads! City of Newcastle England Champions

And they are the first winners since Ealing carried off back-to-back wins in 1990, at Alhoa – the Middlesex club’s win came at the Spanish club, which hosted the Albacom Trophy for the whole of the ’80s.

Twelve months earlier, the Brokenhurst Manor team including Nigel Graves, teenage prodigy Mike Smith and current Hampshire Golf secretary David Wheeler became the first English club to land the title.

Irish champions Galway finished 11th while Welsh chamions Mountain Ash were 17th out of the 25 European golf federations represented. Scotland did not enter a team.

Ireland’s Shandon Park won the event twice in the 21st Century after back to back wins in 2000 and 2001 while Scotland’s only win came at Vilamoura in 1994 when Kilmarncock were crowned European Champions.

•To see the full results from the 2019 European Men’s Club Trophy click here.

The post City of Newcastle’s Albacom Trophy win sees Geordies crowned European Champs appeared first on Golf North.

CITY of Newcastle Golf Club are off to France this month after storming through the field to win the English Men’s Champion Club tournament at Essex’s Romford Golf Club.

The Northumbrian club will be England’s representatives at the European Men’s Club Trophy, at Bordeaux’s Golf du Medoc, from October 24-26.

The “In Toon” Geordie boys claimed the De Montmorency Trophy for the second time in the last three years.

The victory also made up for the disappointment of narrowly missing out on defending the title last year when they finished runners-up to Berkshire’s Castle Royle, at Huddersfield.

The City of Newcastle team – comprising Alex Dixon, Phil Ridden and Andrew Minnikin – started the final round on two-over par and seven shots off the pace set by Royal Lytham & St Annes.

But they shaved nine shots off that score in the second round with Dixon carding a four-under 67, while Ridden shot a 68 and Minnikin contributed a level-par 71.

That was enough to see them claim a four-shot victory over Essex champions Chelmsford after posting a five-under total of 421, with Northamptonshire County one shot further back on level par.

“We’re really overjoyed,” said the winning team manager Simon Coultas.

“It didn’t look likely after Saturday’s round, but we battled away and in the end it proved to be enough.

“This tournament has been very good to us over the last three years,” he added.

“We’ve got three or four really good county players at the club and that’s held us in good stead.

“Alex and Phil were in the team that won in 2017 so they know what it’s like to represent England in Europe. We’re looking forwards to it already.”

“I think playing early in the second round probably helped us,” added Dixon.

“We were able to post and score and then sit back and let the others try and catch us. I’d always rather do that than have to do the chasing.

“We finished third in the team event in France two years ago so it would be great if we could do better than that,” said Dixon.

“Phil and I know what it’s all about so we will be able to give Andrew so pointers.”

The Chelmsford team, made up of Arron Edwards-Hill, Shay McQueen and Brandon Meads, were tied for second place with Northamptonshire County on three-under par after the opening day.

Their score was helped in no small measure by a 64 from Arron Edwards-Hill, and he went on to card a 69 in the second round while Meads shot a 70 and McQueen posted a 76.

Edward-Hill’s consolation for seeing his team lose out to City of Newcastle was that his nine-under score was enough to see him clinch a single-shot victory in the individual competition.

He pipped Northamptonshire County’s Callum Farr – runner up in the English Amateur at Hankley Common in August – by one.

Herfordshire’s Tom Speyer, from Harpenden GC, finished third after carding two rounds of 68.

Farr shot a 65 and a 69 which helped his club finish third in the team event with his teammates Corey Neville and Charlie Salter closing with a 73 and a 74 to finish on level-par.

The second day proved to be something of a disappointment for Royal Lytham & St Annes’ representatives Callan Barrow, Harry Talarczyk and Jamie Van Wyke, who combined to shoot a five-under total on the opening day.

But the Lancashire champions drifted out of contention with a six-over par total of 219 on the second day to finish fourth a shot behind Northamptonshire’s champions.

For the second day in a row Barrow produced his club’s best score by adding a one over par 72 to his opening 68. Talarczyk carded a 73 while Van Wyke shot a 74.

The post Haway the lads! Why in Toon City of Newcastle are bound for another crack at Europe appeared first on Golf North.