Poppleton is primed for Yorkshire's Roses clash in Northern Counties League

Poppleton won four matches at The Berkshire before losing by one-hole in the last four to eventual winner Todd Clements (Braintree).

And the 23-year-old might have gone all the way – keeping the title in White Rose hands for a fourth time in a row – but for an unfortunate oversight that led to a two-hole swing against him for leaving his training club in his bag for the first two holes of the match with Clements.

He had knocked out the top qualifer in his first match and in his third beat England international Bradley Moore (Kedleston Park), who had just defeated Masham’s Dan Brown, the defending champion.

It all means that Popplewell’s match play skills have been nicely honed ahead of Darryl Berry’s Northern Counties League leaders taking on their Roses rivals at Formby on Saturday.

Having qualified comfortably by adding a 74 to his opening five-under-par 67 at The Berkshire, his stroke play form also augurs well for his Lee Westwood Trophy defence at Rotherham next week.

The sporting way in which Poppleton accepted the penalty imposed against him after uncertainty over the semi-final’s tee-off time had disrupted his pre-round routine – which led to the training club being overlooked in his bag – also speaks of the temperament required of a golfer at the very top level.

“The ruling obviously took a little bit of a toll on us (Poppleton and his caddie Alex Stubbs), but, to Todd’s credit, he handled it fabulously,” said the Wath player. “He was quality with me, hats off to him. He just said, ‘right let’s get the ruling’ and he took it really well. He did not do anything wrong.”

From one up after two, the penalty of one shot per hole played with a ‘non-conforming club’ in his bag meant the situation was flipped and Poppleton went to one down.

By the time a storm interrupted play, he was three down, but he came out blazing after the break.

“I flagged my shot on seven and I flagged my shot on eight – I had come out really flying after the delay,” said Poppleton.

“I came out really punching and Todd missed the green twice – but he chipped and putted from two great places, two great up-and-downs to keep the momentum going. I then landed it on nine for a two-putt birdie, and so did he. Fair play to him, he kept holing great putts and he didn’t make a bogey all day, so that’s quality stuff.”

He has avoided the extremes of either feeling sorry for himself or angry with himself for the oversight.

“You look back on the experience and hindsight is a lovely thing,” he said, adding, “but with hindsight, everybody in that field would have taken getting through to the semi-finals at the start of the week. There is only one guy who’s going to win it, so to be tied third was a pretty good achievement.

“I have got to try to kick on, and enjoy the event next week at the Westwood, and before that it’s practice with Yorkshire on Friday and then the match on Saturday.”

Yorkshire’s team against Lancashire at Formby on Saturday is:

Sam Bairstow (Hallowes), James Cass (Fulford), Nathan Fell, Sam Rook and Bailey Gill (Lindrick), Ben Firth (Moortown), Jamie Harrison and Lewis Hollingworth (Rotherham), Ben Hutchinson (Howley Hall), Jack Lampkin (Bracken Ghyll), Nick Poppleton (Wath), Will Whiteoak (Shipley).