Phil edges to club title win at Leighton Buzzard GC
Two Leighton Buzzard golfers each had to play 39 holes over the weekend to determine who would be crowned club champion.
Experienced 52-year-old campaigner Phil Coumbe faced 17-year-old Cedars student Henry Wooster for the coveted title and with the scores level after 36 holes, faced a three-hole shoot-out to decide who would be champion.
Having won the club Junior championship six days earlier, Henry and engineer Phil both completed their two rounds in 145 shots, and were still neck-and-neck after the first extra hole.
And when Phil edged in front on the second, scratch golfer Henry faced a ten-foot putt to keep the game alive.
But it was not to be as Phil holed out for a par on the last hole to celebrate victory showered in champagne.
“It was a real tough match, but thankfully my hopes of winning the championship came true,” said Phil, a member of the Plantation Road club for 14 years.
In third place was Thomas Porter finishing with 147, a shot clear of Fraser Jameson.
The Club Handicap championship was won by Jamie Brodie with a nett 137, two shots clear of Jack Jones and Simon Light.
*Retired Post Office boss David Hawkins delivered a first class performance to win Leighton’s annual Past Captains’ competition with a 38 point haul, finishing a shot clear of Tim Mitchell, with Adrian Stephenson finishing third in a 11-strong field.
*Three junior Leighton golfers represent Bedfordshire in the finals of a nationwide competition next week.
Josh Lock, a 14-year-old Cedars Academy student, Hannah Walsh, an 11-year-old pupil at Brooklands School and Florence Worth, a 10-year-old pupil at Swanbourne School, won the Bedfordshire County Inter-club championship and will represent the County in the national finals at Spalding Golf Club which start next Monday (August 11).
*Peter Sheridan won Leighton’s July stableford with a 46 point haul, beating Ladies Captain Stephanie Howlett by a point, with Steve Richardson third in a field of 138.