Lancashire Golf 
Golf
Northern Counties Championship
Lancashire win Northern Counties Championship by 30 shots
CHAMPIONS: Centenary President Martin Kippax celebrates the victory with Billy Bromilow and his players. From the left: Matthew Nixon, Jack Senior, Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Hurst, James Robinson, John Carroll and Mark Young.
LANCASHIRE powered to their second Northern Counties Championship in three years and by an astonishing 30 shots over Roses rivals Yorkshire at Wallasey.
The winning margin is believed to be unprecedented and almost certainly the 22-stroke advantage at the end of the first round has never been matched.
"We blew them out of the water," enthused captain Billy Bromilow. "The team spirit was fantastic."
Matthew Nixon and fellow England international and Walker Cup ace Tommy Fleetwood both carded 67s to lead the way in the morning and with none of the six players over the par of 72 the accumulative total was a remarkable 20 under.
"That was Tour standard golf," added Bromilow.
The contest was effectively over by then but Lancashire kept their foot on the pedal although as the strong wind blasted away the benign conditions earlier in the day morning the scoring was never expected to be quite as impressive.
Yet that was not the case with Mark Young, the 2009 county champion,
who was a mind-boggling eight-under-par after 14 holes before closing with a 67 to add to his opening 69 to win the individual title.
The Longridge man's first bogey in the second round came at the 15th after his pitch struck the flagstick before he missed the putt inside three feet.
A par at the last would have set a course record but he left a five iron approach short and just failed to get up and down.
At least Yorkshire got a crumb of comfort when 17-year-old Daniel Wasteney later claimed the record, set in 2006, with a 66.
Lancashire, who are celebrating their centenary, qualify for the English Finals at Hunstanton, which they won in 2008, on September 24-26.
RESULT: 842 Lancashire; 872 Yorkshire; 874 Northumberland; 879 Cheshire; 883 Cumbria; 898 Isle of Man; 903 Durham.
LANCASHIRE SCORES: 136 Mark Young (Longridge) 69 67; 137 Tommy Fleetwood (Formby Hall) 67 70, Matthew Nixon (Ashton-under-Lyne) 67 70; 142 James Robinson (S&A) 68 74, Jack Senior (Heysham) 69 73; 148 John Carroll (Huyton & Prescot) 72 76.
David Birtill - June 10th 2010
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