BURFORD opened up an eight-point lead at the top of Section 1 of the Shaw Gibbs Oxfordshire Foursomes League after defeating Studley Wood 3-0.

Victory in their next match at Frilford Heath on October 22 should be enough to clinch the title for the west Oxfordshire club.

Burford opened up in style against Studley, with Dave Summers and Simon Hopkins beating Craig Drew and John McClure 6&5 after finishing under par.

John Wilks and Donny Henderson-Sowerby (Burford) eagled the ninth hole before Studley’s Nigel Lawton and Joe Fathers repeated the trick on the par-four 13th.

However, a Burford birdie at the 14th saw them take control of match two and win 4&2.

In the last match, Burford’s Bret Gaertner and Adam Salter eased to a 4&3 victory over Simon Bulman and Nick Mortimer The Oxfordshire climbed off the bottom following their 2½-½ victory over Tadmarton Heath.

England international Craig Hinton and Nigel Lucas survived a late fightback from Tadmarton’s Guy Sambrook and Ian Manning to win match one 2&1.

The Oxfordshire’s Mark Shimmin and Dan Knight birdied the opening hole and never looked back en route to a 4&3 victory over Spencer Hallam and Andrew Mason.

Tadmarton’s Chris Lowe and Jon Burman fought back from four down to halve with Alex Stubbs and Andrew Stubbs.

Witney Lakes climbed to second in Section 3 after their 3-0 defeat of North Oxford.

  • BARRY James and Trevor Harrhy will play for Wales in the Four Nations Golf Challenge grand final at The Oxfordshire, starting on Sunday.

James (Drayton Park) and Harrhy (Frilford Heath) made the Welsh side after coming through a series of qualifying rounds and will compete against teams of 12 from England, Scotland and Ireland.

The Golf Plus Direct-sponsored event will be fourball matchplay and will be televised on Sky Sports next month.