Report from Northampton County
The best placed finisher from Worcestershire in the English Seniors Championships at Northampton County Golf Club this year was Steven Carpenter from Hagley Golf and Country Club.
Steven was very consistent with scores of 79 + 75 + 78 = 232 which gave him 12th place, 11 strokes behind the winner. Steven's performance is worthy of high praise considering that over the three rounds of "Reduction Only" handicap, the scoring clearly demonstrated how stiff a test Northampton County was, with ultra fast greens and hard, unforgiving fairways.
Bill Thompson, County Chairman, was the only other competitor from the County . After a good opening round of 75, Bill struggled to maintain this early form but managed to make the cut for the final 60. Bill finished in a creditable 31st place.
240 competitors started out over the two courses in Northampton. On the final day, Northampton County was set up to be extremely challenging and only eight players managed to break 80.
English Seniors - EGU website Report.
Squires keeps Seniors title on day of damage limitation
Alan Squires is still the English Seniors champion. Despite a tough closing day of high temperatures and even higher scores, the Lancastrian maintained his grip on the title throughout a jittery final round over a challenging golf course.
To underline how difficult scoring was, Squires carded a closing 79 for 221 yet still finished five strokes ahead of his main rival Chris Reynolds, who shot 78, and six clear of third placed Graham Meddings with 82.
At one stage it seemed Squires wouldn’t have any problems as he went out in 38 and was still comfortably in the lead. But the back nine proved a different kettle of fish as he reeled off seven successive bogeys from the 11th and only a birdie-four at 18 gave him much relief and confirmed his victory.
“It was tough,” said a relieved Squires. “It was just as well I had a good cushion going into the final round otherwise it might have been different. But to win this title once was fantastic. To defend it successfully is unbelievable.
“This is a great course but in these dry conditions anything can happen. You can hit great shots but you can also get some horrendous kicks. I just wanted to keep the doubles off the card and not to hit it into the jungle. In the end I was thrilled to break 80.”
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