Shacklady helps fire Lancashire to Inter-County final

Mossock Hall maestro David Shacklady played a leading role in guiding Lancashire to the inaugural final of the SkyCaddie PGA England & Wales Inter-County Championship.

Shacklady, who recently sewed up the North Order of Merit title, joined forces with Barry Taylor (Houghwood) and Jeff Mathews (Oak Royal), in the 36-hole team event at Bolton Golf Club.

The trio (pictured above with SkyCaddie's Chris Sands on the right) posted a one-over-par total of 281 to win by one shot and seal a place in the £10,000 two-day final being held at The Belfry, West Midlands, on October 14-15.

With the best two cards from each round being decisive, Shacklady carded rounds of 70 and 68 – the latter the best of the day, with Taylor shooting 71 and 72 and Mathews 73 and 75.

The North East & North West team of David Clark (Morpeth), Vincent Guest (Teesside) and Michael Nesbit (Westerhope) finished second after two rounds of 141. Guest was the only other player on the day to shoot under par, with a first round 69.

Cheshire & North Wales, who had PGA Cup vice captain Jon Bevan (Rhos-on-Sea) partnering Andrew Barnett (Pennant Park) and Lee Rooke (Royal St Davids) were third at four-over-par.

The winning trio, the last team to qualify, will compete against teams from South Wales, Surrey, Suffolk and Warwickshire in the final. The winning team will pocket £4,000 as well as the title.