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Winning Display

Norfolk Golf and Country Club duo Tony Varney and Iain Phillips booked a trip to Turkey when they won by one shot to take the BMW-supported PGA International Pro-Captain Challenge East Region qualifier at Bush Hill Park in Enfield. The pair looked comfortable throughout and were heading for a round of 59 before a minor scare on the 18th when they finished with a bogey.

But their nine under par score was still good enough to take them through to the 36-hole final which will take place over the PGA Sultan Course at Antalya Golf Club in November (7-8).

Defending champion Brightman, from Millbrook, finished three shots back on six under while four pairs tied for second on eight under.

Lewes take Cornwall

Professional Tony Hilton and his three amateur partners, Henry Hilton, (2hcp), Matt Hart, (Scr), and A J Boyse, (4hcp), from Lewes Golf Club, East Sussex pictured powered to a decisive victory in the Trevose May Festival of Golf, five strokes ahead of 2006 winners Nick Gammon, (Trevose), Tom Cairns, (The Berkshire), Mark Hilton, (Lewes) and Ray Swift, (Trevose), on 409. Andrew Wright, Richard Wood, Nick Wright and Rob Templeton, (Long Ashton, Bristol) were third on 410. Staged for the twenty fifth consecutive year, with support from Srixon Golf, 200 amateur and pro competitors from across the UK took part, reports Ray Ramm.

Andrew Ridgley and Henke Ferreira, (Trevose), won the first day’s Pair’s Prize after a count-back from Rob Ryan and Steve Wareham, (Dorset), tied with Trevose captain Mike Ellis and his son Patrick on 64.

Feltwell Results

David Leonard from Feltwell Golf Club returned to the Veteran’s Honour’s boards with victory in the Style Windows Trophy compiling a score of 39 points, steady-eddy John Mann was runner up and the evergreen Reg Leech in third spot. The Saturday medal saw Don Redpath (despite the shanks!) win division 1 with a nett 75 beating Dave Smith who was two back. Lee Flanders took Division 2 on 71 and George Maidwell the third division with 73. Mark Robson, father of boy-wonder Chris, combined winning Division 1 of the recent Sunday Medal, scooping the EGU Winter Warmer as well. This was based on the lowest score of the field and Mark pipped Bob Tyler on count back to claim the prize. Alan Maher won Division 2 with a nett 71 and Bob Tyler Division 3 with a nett 70.

SHIPSTONE MAKES PGA HISTORY

A PGA professional has become the first assistant to claim a clean sweep of PGA Graduation titles. Yorkshire-born Jonathan Shipstone, who is based at Horsham Golf & Fitness in West Sussex, has been crowned the Titleist PGA Assistant of the Year at the PGA Graduation ceremony at the University of Birmingham.

The coveted award, the highest accolade on offer to aspiring PGA professionals undertaking the PGA’s three-year foundation degree, completed an unprecedented hat-trick with the 44-year-old having previously won the Rookie of the Year and second year honours.

Shipstone’s success has led to him securing a head teaching professional role overseeing three fully qualified PGA professionals. He credited his former boss Jason Laszkowicz of Owston Hall in Doncaster and Graham Walker of The Oaks Golf Club in York, for providing wisdom and inspiration throughout his early years.

Essex retain Salver

The Cheshunt Salver is a combined boys under 18's & under 16's match held annually between Essex & Herts with each county taking turns to host. For the past 10 years the salver has been won by the home team. Against this background a weakened Essex team travelled to Knebworth in hope of an away win early in April. The morning foursomes started badly with the 3 U18 pairs all losing, the U16 boys pulled things back with 2 wins and a halve, so at lunch Essex were down by 2.5 to 3.5 - thus needing at least 7 wins from the 12 afternoon singles matches.

A tense afternoon was to follow. Through the turn Essex were up in 3 and down in 9 matches, Herts looked certain of a home win. Essex boys however have a reputation in county golf for doing the unexpected. Led by captain for the day Ben Herbert of Clacton who turned his match around to go 1up on the par 5 18th with a birdie. Followed by Jack English of Five Lakes having a run of consecutive birdies to win 3/2, Chris Moore of West Essex and Joe Kelly of Woolston Manor both winning on the 18th. Things had suddenly swayed in Essex favour 6.5 to 5.5 and, with 6 X U16 singles matches still in progress, Essex need 3 from 6.

The Essex U16 boys did magnificently to win 2 and halve 3 of their matches. Devon Dunmore of Ballards Gore halved with England player Nick Ward. Mason Papple of Stock Brook recovered from 3 down to win 1 up on the 18th. With 9 of the 12 singles matches finishing on the 18th, Essex retained the Salver with a final result of 10 - 8.

Out in front

Bedfordshire’s Bridie Quinn and Sally Shayler (pictured) scored a four-shot victory in the EWGA East Region foursomes at Hintlesham Hall, Suffolk. Sally, the Bedfordshire champion, and Bridie, a past winner of the county title, put together two rounds of three-over par 75 in perfect spring-like weather.

They were heading for an even lower score before dropping five shots over the last three holes of their first round. They recovered well from the setback and, said Sally: “We set out to win this and we are delighted to do it. “It was the first 36 hole competition of the year and now we’re looking forward to our county championship at John O’Gaunt in May.” The pair are a tried and tested foursomes partnership with an excellent record in county week ma tches. They were also third in this competition last year

Royston duo target Bahamas

Matthew Clark won the National Pro-Am qualifier at Royston Golf Club and now heads off with Club Pro, Sean Clark to Old Fold Manor golf Club in May to try and win the qualifying event, which sees the winners take an all expenses paid trip to the Bahamas. The 27 year old mustered 40 points in tricky conditions in Macrh to lead the field by two shots. Arthur Brennan was a clear second on 38, whilst Dave Rowell pipped Adam Woods for third spot, as both players finished with 37 points. The Junior Medal in March was won by John Middlemass with a nett 70. Jonathan Windle was second and Matt Barrett took third on countback from Luke Bailey. The ladies also played a Medal on Saturday and Sue Bidwell romped away from the field with an impressive nett 68, six strokes under the CSS. Sue’s handicap has now been trimmed from 26 to 23 . Carolyn Devaney was second ahead of Sue Leadbeater and Karen Pearso

Piltdown Captain's Drive In

Michael Eggers celebrated his appointment as the new Captain of Piltdown Golf Club with the traditional “drive-in” from the 1st tee on Sunday 14th March. This was a wellsupported event, with the new Captain organising drinks and delicious canapés for those present. In front of an enthusiastic gathering of members, Michael defied all his first day nerves as Captain and started his first year of office with a glorious drive down the middle of the fairway! Michael joined Piltdown Golf Club in 2001 and has a handicap of 13. Following his successful “drive-in” he told members “I am very honoured to be Captain of Piltdown Golf Club and particularly at a time when club members are enjoying the benefits of considerable improvements to the course."

Aldwickbury awards

Aldwickbury Park in Hertfordshire has walked away with six trophies at the annual awards of Burhill Golf & Leisure, the UK’s leading golf course owner and operator, with Tristan Hall winning the General Manager of the Year award and Stuart collecting the Best Course Operating Standards for the second year running. Tristan was also full of praise for his golf course manager Stuart for the hard work he has put in over the year, and for picking up his second Burhill award.

Stuart has been instrumental in implementing an environmental plan at Aldwickbury Park, which plans to enrich the environment and promote sound, sustainable management of its facilities. This has seen Stuart and his team create habitats in woodland around the course for wildlife and insects to live as well as cutting away dead trees to create more room for the good trees to survive. Colin Mayes, Burhill Golf & Leisure chief executive, said: “It is a fantastic achievement for Tristan and Stuart to win these awards for the second successive year. It is a testament to their hard work and the work of their teams in making Aldwickbury Park one of the most successful golf clubs in the UK.”

De Vere backs Seniors

The De Vere Collection PGA Seniors Championship, one of Europe’s longest standing golf championships, has received a major boost after the De Vere hotel group agreed a three year sponsorship extension. The deal will see the luxury golf resort company sponsor the De Vere Collection PGA Seniors Championship until 2013. The announcement comes ahead of this year’s £250,000 event which will again be staged at Northumberland’s Slaley Hall for the third year running from June 24-27.

Among those expected to challenge for the European Senior Tour’s longest-running event is record money winner Carl Mason, who won the title for a third time over the Dave Thomas-designed Hunting Course last summer. The tournament dates back more than half a century having first been contested in 1957 and remains the only 72-hole event on the Senior Tour circuit outside of the four Senior majors. .

Daniel Hodson, De Vere’s Director of Golf and Leisure, said: “Our sponsorship of the De Vere Collection PGA Seniors Championship at Slaley Hall has been extremely rewarding since it started in 2008, and hosting such a prestigious event has been instrumental in further establishing Slaley Hall as one of the UK’s leading championship venues.”

Fynn welcome

Fynn Valley in Suffolk has a new professional line up - pictured - reports Jenny Holmes. Alastair Spink has joined as director of golf where he will be supported by head pro Simon Dainty and new assistant Chris Smith. Alastair is County Development Officer for the Suffolk Golf Partnership, a Junior Academy coach for the Suffolk Golf Union and one of Suffolk’s most respected professionals. Chris Smith joined Fynn Valley as a junior in 2000 where he is a very popular member of the Club. He was a regular in the Suffolk County 1st team and represented Fynn Valley in all the major county events. He turned pro in 2009 and looks forward to progressing his career at Fynn Valley under the guidance of Alastair and Simon.

Catriona Honored

The Golf Foundation has announced that Catriona Matthew MBE has accepted the role of Vice President. Catriona, winner of the 2009 Ricoh Women's British Open, joins Peter Alliss, Laura Davies MBE, Sir Nick Faldo MBE, Bernard Gallacher OBE, Tony Jacklin CBE, Paul Lawrie MBE, Sandy Lyle MBE, Alison Nicholas MBE, Karen Stupples and Sir Michael Bonallack OBE on a prestigious roll call of Vice Presidents for the charity that works to make golf more accessible to children from all backgrounds and abilities.

The Golf Foundation is committed to the sporting and social development of young people through golf in support of the national golf partnerships of England, Scotland and Wales. One of its primary aims is to link schools to golf clubs to help grow participation rates and its development team is particularly eager to aid in the development of girls' golf at every opportunity.

Flying the flag

English players have achieved a third place in Australia and a runners-up spot in South Africa in January. Down Under, Tommy Fleetwood and Matt Haines finished third of ten nations behind the host pair of Matt Jager and Jordan Sherratt in the team event at The Masters of the Amateurs event at Yarra Yarra Golf Club in Melbourne.

The English duo finished on 586, ten over par, but 15 strokes behind the Australians and 11 adrift of the United States pair Morgan Hoffmann and Bud Cauley who filled second place. In the individual ranking, Haines (photo © Tom Ward) ended joint fifth on 290, two over par, while Fleetwood finished on eight over par 296. The pair might have fared better but were handicapped by a disappointing opening round after a late arrival in Australia when snow delayed their departure from the UK.
However, Fleetwood followed up an opening 83 with three rounds of 71, while Haines closed with 70 after rounds of 72, 73 and 75.

Amateurs win tour cards

English amateurs Hannah Ralph of Sussex (left) and Kym Larratt of Leicestershire (right) have earned full cards for the 2010 Ladies European Tour after successfully making their way through qualifying school at La Manga. Lancashire’s Corisande Lee will also be offered some playing opportunities next year.
The school was described as the most fiercely contested in the 31-year history and for many of the players was a two-week test, involving seven gruelling rounds.

Hannah Ralph (Cowdray Park) was 11th overall, with a five-under par total for 72 holes (70 75 71 71). Her scoring was impressively steady throughout the event, with just five bogeys and one double throughout the four rounds. Hannah is EWGA’s South Region champion and was runner-up in the English mid-amateur championship.

Kym was the top qualifier at the English amateur championship at Lindrick and went on to represent England in the Nations Cup in the Irish women’s open strokeplay championship. Her father, Bob, is a European senior tour player. Corisande Lee (West Lancashire) finished in 45th place with scores of 71 75 78 73. Cori was a key member of the victorious Lancashire team at the English County Finals and won the 2009 Leveret, one of the country’s top scratch events.

Srixon Ball Fitting

Chipping in! Our featured club website this month is Wyboston Lakes Golf Centre, Bedfordshire