PGA West Region Players Championship

Please see below for the write up of the Cumberwell Park PGA West Region Players Championship and Pro-Am

BOND PRAISES CUMBERWELL PARK AFTER HIS FIRST ORDER OF MERIT WIN

By Peter Godsiff

Welsh-based Lancastrian Liam Bond beat a strong challenge in a quality field to win a PGA West Region order of merit tournament for the first time at Cumberwell Park and was full of praise for the club and the course.

He said: ”It’s an outstanding course with great facilities and stood up well to the battering from the rain. It was amazing how the greenstaff managed to keep it in such good shape when so many other courses were closed.

“I love coming here and remember with affection my first visit 12 years ago when I won the West Region Assistants title.”

Bond, aged 41 from Marriott St Pierre, who hopes his win will be the spur to making a return to the European Tour next season, consolidated his first round lead with a near-flawless four-under-par 67 on a rainy second day.

A tap-in birdie at the 18th, his eleventh in 36 holes, sealed a two-shot win over fellow Challenge Tour player Sion Bebb (Vale Hotel) whose birdie at the same hole edged joint halfway leader West Region captain Ed Goodwin (Cirencester) into third spot.

Former European Open champion Stephen Dodd who won four times on the European Tour during a distinguished career, added to the quality of the field. He finished in a tie for fourth alongside Lee Thompson (Dudsbury), Cheltenham’s Russell Berry (RB Golf Range) and Michael Watson (Wessex Golf Centre).

Iain Ferrie (West Wilts), who seldom plays now, produced the round of the week. A seven-birdie 64 propelled him 51 places up the leaderboard into a share of eighth.

Defending champion and former Wiltshire county captain Ali James, the host club’s manager, started his defence in style with an opening 68 to stand two off the lead. He initially overshadowed his playing partner Dodd as he started the second round well.

He reached a score of five under for the tournament and had his sights on another win until he dropped five shots on four holes. The killer blow was a snap hook off the par-five eighth hole. He lost his ball and eventually took eight. He shot 73 and was tied for eleventh.

He said: “It was another very good event here. I played nicely on the first day and it was nice to put up a strong defence of my title. But my main target this year is to help Wiltshire win the county finals again.

“We’ve performed amazing feats to get there again this year and everything is focussed on the county doing well at Beau Desert in September.”

John Jacobs, Cumberwell Park’s director of golf who made the presentations, said: “It was a fantastic week for the club and we were amazed how well the course stood up after such appalling weather. The guys had to play really well to shoot such low numbers as it was a proper test as the ball was not running and the course played its full length.

“It was heartening to hear such favourable comments from the players about both the course and the club.”

Leading final scores: 133 Liam Bond (Marriott St Pierre) 66 67 £1,350, 135 Sion Bebb  (Vale Hotel) 67 68 £875 136 Ed Goodwin (Cirencester) 66 70 £625, 137 Lee Thompson (Dudsbury) 70 67, Russell Berry (RB Golf Range) 69 68, Michael Watson (Wessex Golf Centre) 69 68, Stephen Dodd  67 70, £366 each 138 Iain Ferrie (West Wilts) 74 64, Barry Forster (North Wilts) 68 70, £270 each, 139 Matthew Dearden (Vale Hotel) 70 69 £240, 141 Paul Turpin (Carlyon Bay) 73 68, Ross Jones  (Bath Golf Club) 73 68, Graham Howell (Ferndown Forest) 71 70, Richard O'Hanlon  (Lanhydrock) 70 71, Martin Stimson (Ashburnham) 69 72, £120 each, Ali James (Cumberwell Park) 68 73.

  CUMBERWELL TEAMS TOPS IN PRO AM

Cumberwell Park professionals Ben Lloyd and Alex Pike finished in the top three places in the Cumberwell Park PGA West Region Players Championship pro-am that preceded the main event.

Lloyd led Martin Little, Ross Pike and John Iles into first spot with a total of 13-under-par for 85 stableford points. This was three better than Pike’s team of Will Brown, Mark Keevil and Josh Dee. But they were relegated to third by the Triumph of Taunton quartet of Jon Bevan (Wessex Golf Centre), Neil Mossman, Bob Tye and Lee Ayres on countback after finishing on the same number of points.

Young Bowood assistant Harry Bird and his amateurs Ben Bird, Dan Blewett and Gary Standen also returned 82 but were fourth on countback.

Cumberwell Park golf manager and former Wiltshire county captain Ali James was in the fifth team on 81 points, helped by another former county captain Kevin Phillips and county secretary David Lewis, led by Hamptworth pro David Hutton. Phillips also claimed the longest drive award at the ninth.

They were one clear of the sixth team from Marstons Brewery led by Michael Watson (Wessex) with Tim Schlapfer, Ross Shakespeare and Sam Hill.

Wessex Golf Centre's Watson won the individual medal with a four-under-par 67 that included a hole in one at the 205-yard 13th hole. It was his fifth pro-am win in a season that started slowly by his high standards.

Watson, aged 42, has been playing outstanding golf since winning the Microsoft Services Masters at Bowood last month for his first order of merit success for 14 years. 

He also won the event last year with a seven-under-par round of 64. This time he edged out Joe Ferguson (Celtic Manor) and David Haines (Brean) who led in the clubhouse until Watson burst through with the help of an outstanding back nine.

He struggled on the way out and made bogeys at the fifth and another at seventh when he three-putted. But he burst into action with three consecutive birdies from the 10th and made the vital winning birdie at the closing hole.

Selected scores:  70 Graham Laing (North Wilts), Edward Goodwin (Cirencester), 71 Ross Jones (Bath), Andrew Beal (Salisbury), Harry Bird (Bowood), 73 David Hutton (Hamptworth), 74 Ben Lloyd (Cumberwell Park), 75 Alexander Blewett, 77 Alexander Pike (Cumberwell Park), Paul Morss (Cumberwell Park).