NINTH FINAL MUST WAIT

Littlehampton pulled it out of the bag at the last hole of the singles and East Sussex National will be their opponents at The Dyke on September 11.

They were perfect golfing conditions for this semi-final clash and it produced a highly competitive match at the scenic setting of Ham Manor.

It was impossible to forecast who was going to win during the singles matches in the afternoon. The impetus kept shifting between the two sides, with two matches reaching the 18th tee.

In the morning foursomes, Worthing had gained an early lead through Joe Doherty and Dave Webb, and they looked on course to gain a points advantage going into the afternoon. There was a good turnout of supporters following the pairings and enjoying the tension.

Littlehampton's Mark Dignan and Darryl Minton were one shot up with one hole to play until Minton hit in to a horse's grave. The dropped shot allowed the Worthing pair to halve. However, the final pair of Martin Leo and Hiddy Jahan gained a vital point for Littlehampton and the match was finely balanced at two points each before the singles.

The question now was who could remain composed in their individual performance. Joe Doherty was playing superbly against Garry Fisher in match six, holing long putts and racing to four up by the ninth, and soon claimed a point for Worthing.

Worthing 14-year-old Darren Renwick was storming ahead in his match, but Jahan was playing solidly in his contest to keep Littlehampton close.

As the players came through the ninth, the match started to take shape but the first two singles matches out were to prove decisive and it was the Littlehampton players who kept their nerve to claim the vital points.

Craig Newman and Chris Sykes came to the final hole with Sykes one up. The pressure got to both as their tee shots went off track, with Sykes in an unplayable ditch. A ruling was required by the match official, and Sykes recovered to win.

In the other to reach the 18th, Minton, 19, showed great character to put his difficult putt on the green close enough to the hole to halve with Dave Webb. It was the crucial half to add to the singles wins, and enabled Littlehampton to claim a place in the final.

Eric Reekie, Worthing's team manager, gracefully acknowledged that Littlehampton played the better golf on the day.

"On paper we were the stronger club but we knew Littlehampton were going to be after our blood as they have never made it to the final. They now have, good luck to them and I think they will win the tournament."

Worthing's expectations of scoring 4 points from the singles, and reaching their ninth final, was high and a 6-6 tie was at one stage possible with Worthing up two holes on countback. But events took a contrary turn.

Reekie explained: "All square at lunch was a result I would have taken at the start. But, once again, having been in control of matches through 12 we let holes slip through our fingers on the next three. With the back six singles matches being shared three each, it all came down to the first two matches and both went to the 18th

"With Darryl Minton managing a half against Dave Webb and Chris Sykes taking Craig Newman it was all over. This left us gutted. We had lost a match we should have won."