ONE OF amateur golf's biggest lotteries, the south-east qualifying round of the EGU County Championship, comes to Stoneham on Saturday.

Hampshire will be among 11 of the leading golfing counties in Southern England trying to win the one place available to the region in the English County finals.

They have made it five times before and went on to win the county title in 1996, but Hampshire secretary Keith Maplesden echoes the feeling of all his south-east contemporaries when he says: "This is the toughest group of the lot."

In the north, for example, only eight counties, including Yorkshire, Lancashire and Durham compete in the regional qualifier and only seven compete in the south-west.

"I have often wondered whether there is a better way to do it in the south-east," says Maplesden, "like maybe splitting the region into two groups with the winners of each meet-ing playing for the honour of going into the county finals."

On the day teams of six compete over two rounds of medal play with each individual score to count. If one player strays off line and scores high, it can seriously compromise his county. So it's a pressure situation and one which requires captains to get their team selection absolutely right.

Unfortunately for Hampshire's non-playing captain Ian Gray, one of the county's top players isn't available. McEvoy Trophy winner David Porter, who plays out of Stoneham, is otherwise engaged for England Boys in the European Team Championships.

But two Stoneham strongmen do make the county line-up, former county champion Alan Mew and the new Hampshire champion Darren Henley.

They spearhead a six-man team completed by Kevin Weeks (Brokenhurst Manor), Chris Hudson (The Army), Tim Markwick (Corhampton) and Richard Ramskill (La Moye).

Weeks and Mew are the sole survivors of the Hampshire team who won the county title at Woodhall Spa in 1996 - but Maplesden believes that home advantage WILL be an asset on Saturday.

"Apart from the two Stoneham players, Weeks and Markwick know their way around the course pretty well," says Maplesden, "while Hudson and Ramskill excel at strokeplay."

Significantly, the last time the south-east qualifier was held at Stoneham, Hampshire did win it. "Let's hope that's a good omen," smiles the county secretary.

Hampshire's opponents on Saturday are: Berks, Bucks and Oxon, Kent, Sussex, Norfolk, Suffolk, Middlesex, Surrey, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Essex.

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.