Round Up Of a Busy Period
Monday 24th July 2017
Round Up Cornish Golf
In what has been and will be a very busy period for golf and golfers in Cornwall - here is a roundup of what has happened and what is going on at present.
Last week saw the McGregor Trophy staged at Burnham & Berrow GC, as the English Boys U16 Open Amateur Championship took place over 3 days on the Somerset links course. And it was Cornwall’s George Leigh (Trevose) who played very well to eventually finish in 11th spot in the 140 player field which started.
Two rounds of strokeplay saw George return a 70 and a 69 for a 3 under par total of 139 and 4th spot, just 3 shots behind the then leader George Young (West Malling). A third round 81 stopped him in his tracks somewhat but he recovered well in round 4 with a 73 for a final total of 293, 7 shots behind the eventual winner Joonas Juan Turba (Estonia) on 286. George should be very proud of the way he played in the tournament especially as he finished 8th in the U15 element of the event.
The other Cornish representative in the McGregor was George’s Trevose clubmate Joe Reynard, who shot a first round 72 (+1) but disappointingly fell away with a 78 in round 2 missing the cut by just 2 shots.
Leigh moves on this week to the English Boys' Under 18 Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship (Carris Trophy) taking place at West Sussex GC from tomorrow (25th July). We wish him well.
Another one to miss a cut by just 2 shots was Tehidy Park’s County team member Rob MacGregor who took part in the prestigious Tillman Trophy, an England Golf Order of Merit event at Knole Park, Surrey last week. MacGregor shot a good 71 (+1) in round one but a second round 75 saw him miss out on further progress. The tournament was won by Somerset’s Taylor Stote who won a playoff against Will Whiteoak (Shipley, Yorkshire) and Ollie Huggins (Frilford Heath) after the trio finished on a 4 under par total of 276.
Congratulations also to the three Cornish ladies who competed in the English Women’s Amateur Championship at Lindrick GC last week. All of them made the cut from the 107 who started and all featured in the top reaches of the leaderboard. Top finisher was Georgia Price (Bude & N Cornwall) who returned scores of 74, 77, 77 and 71 to finish in 6th spot, 7 shots behind winner Lily May Humphreys (Stoke by Nayland). Arguably the best performance came from Megan Giles (St Mellion) who scored an 80 (+8) in round one and then made the cut (top 40 players) by two shots with a second round 74. Not content with that Megan continued to improve in rounds 3 and 4 as she returned a 75 and a 72 for a total of 301 and a very credible finishing position in the tournament won by her older sister Sammie 12 months earlier. Carlyon Bay’s Emily Toy finished tied 19th on 307.
The County Mens Seniors team are off to Orchardleigh GC, Somerset for this year’s South Western Counties Golf Association Seniors Championship which takes place over 2 days from Thursday this week. In 2016 at Launceston the Cornwall team finished runners up to winners Devon.
For this year's championship a number of players - Phil Clayton (Newquay), Colin Kitt (China Fleet), Colin Ross (Falmouth) and Neil Hodding (West Cornwall) who have all represented the county in Seniors Channel League matches this season - are unavailable. Harper has the benefit though of being able to replace those unavailable with seasoned and experienced players. CGU County Captain David Kneebone (Truro) makes a return to the seniors team as do the Trevose pairing of Mike Wigley and Trevor Ashton.
The team is: Harper (St Austell), Andy Rowe (Looe), David Kneebone (Truro), Andrew Clotworthy (Tehidy Park), Trevor Ashton (Trevose), Malcolm Edmunds (West Cornwall), Mike Wigley (Trevose) and Charlie Phillips (Newquay).
Cornwall’s U18s will be in action on Thursday (27th July) when they take on Somerset at Trethorne GC in their first Roy Greenaway trophy match this year. The U18 team is captained by Bradley Barnes (West Cornwall) and also features Finn Rule (West Cornwall), Simon Hobbs (Bowood Park), George Law (Perranporth), Cameron Gurd (Truro), Lewis Woolaway (China Fleet), Lewis Bradley (St Enodoc), Ewan Warren (St Austell), Joe Reynard (Trevose) and Freddie Norris (Mullion).