Fulford GC's rising star Matthew Lord will head into this week's Yorkshire Boys' championship in heavenly form.

The championships are held at Easingwold GC on Wednesday when 72 of the county's cream of young talent tackle the Yorkshire title format of 36 holes of stroke-play.

It will be an arduous day for the teenagers, who have to be under the age of 18 on January 1, 2002 and have a handicap 11 or below.

Lord however has already proved that he can cope with pressure - and at the testing Easingwold course too.

The 16-year-old produced a quite stunning finish to halve his singles match when he was the youngest player in the York Union of Golf Clubs' opening Yorkshire Inter-District Union tie of the season against Bradford at Easingwold.

He came to the par-five dog-leg - one of the most daunting finishes in north Yorkshire golf - trailing Cleckheaton opponent Mark Vertigans by one stroke.

But after hitting a perfect tee-shot Lord then drove superbly over the challenging out-of-bounds area on his right before then holing his putt for an eagle three to level his clash.

While it did not ultimately alter Bradford's overall 25-11 win, Lord's nerve showed that he has the mettle to prosper in next week's championships.

Easingwold secretary Brian Stockley said the course was in prime condition for the first major event at the course since the northern region championships eight years ago.

"The course was a bit slow about a month ago, but since the work that has been done and, of course, the recent rain, it's in wonderful condition," said Stockley.

"We're just hoping now that we will get a fine day because I am sure we are going to see some great golf from these youngsters."

The staging of the championships has demanded an exacting amount of work from the Easingwold staff, but Stockley insisted it was all worth while.

"It's privilege for us to be hosting the championships. There's a lot of preparation involved but we are delighted to have been asked to stage the championships."

Hosts Easingwold have just one representative in the 72-strong field, nine-handicapper Mark Christie, who will have the distinction of teeing off the event at 7.30am.

BESIDE Lord's daring in the York Union Of Golf Clubs' opener against Bradford, Pike Hills GC's Adrian Lount made a significant contribution in the Easingwold encounter.

A regular member last season, he only came in for the first match of 2002 as a substitute. But his performance was impressive in that he won his singles two and one as well as partnering Fulford's Jonathan Plaxton to a win by a similar margin in the foursomes.

York's other singles winners were Martin Brown (Pike Hills), Iain Simpson (Fulford) and Jim Batt (Heworth).

WIDE-AWAKE was Fulford's May medal winner John Wake.

He had a nett 66 off his 19-handicap to beat Matthew Stephenson on count-back. That success earned him a nomination for the best nine Yorkshire club scores for the English Golf Union gold medal tournament at Woodhall Spa on August 17-18.

Pam Dearing won Fulford's second qualifying round of the Jubilee Bowl with a one-under-par 73. Jessica Lewis, Liz Jones and Sue Garland were the other qualifiers.

FROM tape to tee York Squash Club's annual President's Day event at Allerthorpe Park was won by 16-handicap Easingwold GC member Duncan Roterham, two ahead of Nick Robinson and Steve Hodgson.

Squash club president David Taylor won the chairman's trophy with the best gross of 77, three better than Brian McClaren, father of Middlesbrough manager Steve, who is currently with England's World Cup back-room staff in Japan.

Forest of Galtres' Mick Collins had a hole-in-one with a nine-iron shot at the 151-yard sixth.

IT was where eagles flare at Elsham GC in North Yorkshire Golfing Society's annual President's Day.

Pike Hills' John Calpin bagged his eagle on the 351-yard second hole as a glorious seven-iron shot sailed into the cup yielding him a whopping five points based on his handicap.

However, overall victory went to Easingwold's Bill Stratton on 35 points ahead of Derek Wetton (Heworth) and Brian Chambers (Selby) who posted 34 and 33 points respectively.

ANNE Smith and Liz Hammond won the Easingwold ladies' section's York Union four-ball better-ball title with 38 points. Runners-up were Doreen Clark and Pauline Myers on 37 ahead of Edna Blogg and Gay Enos, whose 36 included a better back six.

The mixed greensome event meanwhile was won by Isobel Ponton and Chris dent, while the gents' invitation to ladies went to Joan and Tom Clark on 46 points ahead of Anne Smith/Maurice Woodliffe, Sheila Dando/David Tompkins, Ann Tooms/Howard Dawson and Sue Ward/Vince Moorhouse.

BOTH Fulford and York are to stage Yorkshire PGA pro-am events. The Fulford round will be on Thursday, August 1 with the event at York on Friday, August 30.

FULFORD'S annual stableford competition went to June Hutt on 39 points, two ahead of Pat Radford.

Updated: 11:18 Saturday, May 25, 2002