Ingrebourne Links is the venue for the final Callaway National Schedule event of the season – and the Middlesex pair are among the favourites for this team event
The Callaway National Schedule signs off with the Inter-County Championship as 25 pairings from across England and Wales tee it up at Ingrebourne Links.
The tournament began as recently as 2013 and started life as a three-person team – the Essex trio of Jason Levermore, James Scade and Brett Taylor went back-to-back in 2017-18 – but since 2019 it has been a pairs event.
It has been played at The Belfry and Sutton Coldfield before moving to Ingrebourne last year.
Round one is fourballs, round two foursomes. Last year, Kent's Ryan Boyns and Matthew Ford ran out winners with a total of 133.
Representing Middlesex this year are Oliver Chesterman (Highgate) and Luke Goddard (Hendon). Goddard, a former Walker Cup player, won the Middlesex Professionals Championship in May this year while Chesterman was third but, with the runner-up being ineligible, he makes up the partnership.
"I played in the Inter-County a few years ago with a guy called Danny Hill. I obviously know Luke fairly well, though I haven't played much golf with him, so it will be great to team up for a couple of days. We played Ingrebourne Links for the PGA Professional Championship in June, and it was bone dry so now we've had some rain, it will be softer and hopefully more scorable," explains Chesterman.
"It's an inland links and the layout is pretty good. It's only been open a few years and is still maturing, but it's improving each year, and the greens are very undulating and pretty tricky."
Chesterman has already landed a big win this season when he and Jack Frances defended their PGA Fourball Championship title at Strathmore in Scotland. The pairing posted back-to-back 64s before shooting the lights out on day three.
"Having a team event to finish the season is great, it's good fun and to have a fourball and a foursomes the week after the Ryder Cup should be quite cool" - Oliver Chesterman
"We were three back and then we shot 12-under on the last day. We were seven-under after seven holes and there was a par in there as well. We were five-under on the back nine for a 60 and that meant that James Walker and Jack Malone needed an eagle at the last to tie, which they did.
"We had played so well, but then there was this momentum switch. I remember saying to Jack that we definitely would have taken a play-off at the start of the week. Jack birdied the first extra hole from six feet, and I made a birdie at the next, so that was lovely."
So what makes Chesterman a good team player?
"I think I'm very relaxed. Everyone feels pressure, but I feel like I'm able to deal with it OK, and it just focuses me more. Having a team event to finish the season is great, it's good fun, and to have a fourball and a foursomes the week after the Ryder Cup should be quite cool.
"I played loads of foursomes when I was younger. It can sometimes be hard to get into a rhythm but that's part of the fun. If you hit a bad shot with your own ball then you can try and rectify it straightaway, if you do it in foursomes you're putting the pressure on someone else to try and get you out of your mistake.
"It's the same for everyone so the plan will be to go out and play well in the first day, shoot a really good score and then go and play solid the next day. It should be great."
The PGA Inter-County Championship takes place at Ingrebourne Links in Essex on October 2 and 3. Click here for tournament information.
