Warwickshire Golf
TAYLOR TAKES THE TITLE
(Left picture: Cliff Palmer -President Ladbrook Park, Graham Taylor - Seniors Champion, Bob Harrison - President Warwickshire Union. Right Picture: Championship Runner-up Martin Fell. CLICK TO ENLARGE)
The hotly contested Warwickshire Senoirs Championship was played on Monday over the testing par 71 course at Ladbrook Park.
The weather was perfect and with the greens running at a nice smooth 10 on the stimp metre it should have resulted in some impressive scoring. However, the day prior to our event was the final round of Ladbrook Parks own Club Championship meaning some very tight pins and a course set up to challenge their best golfers.
There were some more warning signs as the Warwickshire Lady Vets held their Championship earlier in the day where their Competition Standard Scratch had gone up 3 and became reductions only. I was clear it was going to be quite a test for our competitors also!
We had 43 players compete for Overall Gross, Overall Nett, and 4 age group trophies. The Nett being won by Anton Holliday (Robin Hood), who was the only player that managed to return a score to match the standard scratch of the course at 72. The age group winners were as follows…
Aged 55-59 = Martin Fell (Copt Heath) 76
Aged 60-64 = John Hathaway (Stratford Oaks) 78 (John also finished in 3rd place Overall)
Aged 65-69 = Neil Stewart (Nuneaton) 78
Aged 70 & Over = Keith Turton (Harborne) 84
The Overall Gross scores continued to show the difficulty players were facing by having a tie at the top of the leaderboard with both Martin Fell (Copt Heath) and Graham Taylor (Ladbrook Park) on 76.
A tie in this Championship means a sudden death play-off, so back our leaders and a group of spectators ventured back out onto the course to play the short par 4 11th hole.
Graham won the toss of a coin and teed off first hitting a great drive down the left hand side of the fairway. This was closely followed by Martins tee shot which came to rest in the first cut of rough also down the left side.
If at this point Graham was nervous he hid it very well indeed, as he very calmly and maintaining an excellent tempo in his swing, hit his approach to a few feet of the hole.
With the speed of the greens and a bit of course knowledge Martin knew it would be a tough approach from the rough, so opted to land the ball short and let it run up towards the flag where it finished about 20 feet from the hole.
Martins first putt burned the side of the hole but still having the honour holed his second putt with a solid stroke for his par. Graham then stepped up and still without a frayed nerve in sight, knocked his putt in for birdie and the Championship. Under the pressure and number of people watching it was a fantastic birdie – well done Graham and commiserations to Martin who also finished runner-up in last years event.
Aswell as holding the George Stubbings Salver for one year, Graham also represents Warwicskhire in the English Senior Champion of Champions being played at Woodhall Spa in September. I’m sure you all join me in wishing him good luck for that event.
During the presentation it was no surprise to everyone when it was reported that our CSS also went up to 75 reductions only!
At the end of the presentation the draw was made for the Seniors Matchplay Championship (The John Whitworth Trophy) where the leading 8 players qualify and play a knockout tournament. To view the draw CLICK HERE
Many thanks go to Cliff Palmler (President of Ladbrook Park) for assisting with the Presentations along with all at Ladbrook Park Golf Club for the use of the course and all your assistance leading upto and during the Championship.
FOR FULL RESULTS FOR THE DAY CLICK HERE
FOR PHOTOS OF THE DAY CLICK HERE
Matt Nixon
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