Yorkshire champions Abbeydale head for Huddersfield to challenge for English Champion Club event

ABBEYDALE will look to claim national glory in their home county when they compete to become England's Champion Club next month.
Abbeydale's Yorkshire Team Championship trio of, l-r, Jack Leversidge, Tim Brind and Josh Wright.Abbeydale's Yorkshire Team Championship trio of, l-r, Jack Leversidge, Tim Brind and Josh Wright.
Abbeydale's Yorkshire Team Championship trio of, l-r, Jack Leversidge, Tim Brind and Josh Wright.

Until then they will continue the celebrations of their Yorkshire Team Championship triumph, the first in the club's history.

And they did it the hard way, having first to climb out of the Second Division with victory at Ilkley before claiming the county crown at Rotherham.

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Back in the Nineties Abbeydale resided in the Seventh Division, the lowest tier in Yorkshire.

Thanks to the efforts of Tim Brind, Jack Leversidge and Josh Wright they will tee it up in England Golf's Champion Club event at Huddersfield on September 22-23.

Brind, Leversidge and Wright held a three-shot advantage after the morning round at Ilkley in mid July with a 215 tally, with the hosts their nearest rivals and Hallamshire a shot further back.

The Abbeydale trio shaved eight shots off their first-round mark to record a nine-shot victory that would have been even greater but for Yorkshire champion Alex Fitzpatrick's outstanding round of five-under-par 64 for Hallamshire in the afternoon.

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Abbeydale had never played previously at this level in the club’s history, but Brind, Leversidge and Wright took lunch in second place at Rotherham in the Yorkshire Team Championship with a score of 209, trailing Fulford by a single shot.

In the afternoon, as scorching summer heat tested players' powers of concentration and stamina, Abbeydale produced a 215 aggregate for a total of 424 with Brind (70 71), Leversidge (69 72) and Wright (70 72) each showing tremendous consistency.

After an agonising wait to see whether any of the other 17 clubs could dip below their total Abbeydale were confirmed as champions, with Fulford taking second place one shot shy on 425 and Middlesbrough the same distance behind them in third.