Tom Ibbertson played Rugby's toughest hole twice brilliantly - to put his name on a trophy won by virtually all the 'greats'. He now has the opportunity to be the first Warwickshire player to take the English title as he will surely be favourite (low handicap) should he be able to play in the English Championship. Not a County Junior by seven days, the Schools offers one more opportunity for 18 and unders who are still in education.

Just as Tom was more than pleased with his trophy, so Thomas Jones will now go to the English U16s as the Wawickshire Champion with this and two more opportunities to take a title won by Jamie Carney and Elizabeth Mallett - and Nick Dougherty.

The biggest smiles came from the King Henry's team of the Charley brothers and Josh Davenport. Josh played well bar a couple of mistakes and has had his eyes on the Boys Championship trophy for four years since he impressed everyone in 2006. He gets better and better every year. If Josh was the backbone of the team, the two brothers Ben and Tom were the 'nett' stars on the day fighting over first place with scores close to the 50s.

If both improve between now and the English Schools Team Championship in June, they will still have the handicaps to challenge in a competition always won by mid handicap teams who shine on the day. Josh will be there if either has a bad round - or he could shoot something sensational for his age.

It wasn't an easy win for Tom. He started well, turning in one under, a score which could have been better bar two mistakes. Going OOB on the 10th didn't help, not did bogies on the 15th and 17th so a four iron to 8ft on the 18th was desperately needed to post a 70.

Tom knew of the form of the Defending Champion Patrick Skakel, who 'warmed up' for the schools with a week's skiing. It produced a front nine of three under and a two shot lead. Patrick would rue his mistakes on the 16th and then the 18th where he took five to Tom's three. That meant a play-off - would there be just the two players?

Thomas Jones had the best back nine of the contenders - a 36 and that included two sixes. He waltzed off the with the U16s trophy as a consolation.

Michael Pell was nearly joining Tom and Patrick in the play-off and continues to develop month by month. He will be in the Midlands Schools team for his troubles, as will Tom's brother Harry who having started on the more difficult back nine matched his brother's 33 for a 71. The team will be joined by George Allen as our 'wildcard' - playing for the individual title and qualification for the English Schools - trophies and places we have missed out on for the last two years. Better times are ahead!

In the play-off, Tom found the 18th green once again, this time about 10ft from the hole. Patrick was just short and chipped to barely two feet but Tom, having not played for more than a month because of back troubles, used his experience and still there putting touch to slot home the winning birdie.

93 players took part with handicaps ranging from +2 to the 30s. The scoring was very good with a nett 60 being need for the handicap trophy and bar the sensational performance from King Henry's, second place was a tie between Bishops Veasey and St Thomas Moore with 76 points, with a total of 17 schools taking part.

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