Royal North
Devon
Club
Professional
Individual
Equal First
75 Sean Mason (Teign Valley)
75 Chris Gill (Exeter G & CC)
Equal Third
76 Iain Parker (Royal North Devon)
76 Nick Horrocks (Plymouth Golf Centre)
76 Neil Holman (Torbay Driving Range)
76 Barry Austin (Downes Crediton)
Team Scores
First Place
-6 Dave Jeffs (Libbaton) Lucy Leetham,
Sam Raymont,
David Henson
Second Place
-5 Gary Milne (Exeter) Paul Griffin,
Paul Sturges, David
Barker
Third Place
-4 Iain Parker (Royal North Devon) Jimmy Mullen,
Sean Loze,
Geoff Giddy
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Captain Iain Parker with joint winning Pros
Chris Gill & Sean Mason
Dave Jeffs with his winning team
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The cream of Devon's Professionals gathered
at Royal North Devon for the annual Pro Am. There were 30 teams
this year for the popular event which had moved from it's regular
mid-week date. Unfortunately gale force winds which touched 50
miles per hour blew across the historic and exposed links throughout
the day. This made scoring conditions exceptionally tough and only
those players and teams who were able to accept and relish the
challenge in front of them, were likely to leave the course with
their games and confidence intact.
It was particularly difficult to control your ball on and around
the greens, and this area of a golfers game is always tested to
the full on RND's slippery surfaces, which were running at about
12 on the stimp metre. Many players told tales of having to allow
six to eight inches of break on dead straight ten footers!
In these conditions the cream was always likely to rise to the
top and this proved the case with two of the leading players in
West Region Golf, Chris Gill (Exeter) and Sean Mason (Teign Valley)
both posting excellent 3 over par totals of 75. Most of the pros
agreed that par on the day would have been around 78 or 79.
Gill's remarkable prowess with a driver off the deck proved to
be one of his main weapons and lead to his shot of the day, a
driver crunched low and running into the par five 13th hole to
three feet
which set up a great eagle three. Gill who used to work at RND
loves the course, and has now won the Pro AM on two occasions.
He commented "I have never seen the course looking so good,
but the conditions today were undoubtedly the toughest I've played
in during the summer months."
Sean Mason last year's West Region number one, is also a course
and distance specialist, with his name on the club's honours
boards. His game is really coming into shape, as he looks to
defend his
order of merit title. He has been working on all aspects of his
game with Gary Milne head pro at Exeter, he feels comfortable
with his long game and is particularly pleased with the results
of the
hard work put into this short game. His shot of the day came
on the treacherous 17th hole where his wedge shot approach had
run
up against the back lip of the bunker. Just to get the ball anywhere
on the green would have been a good result, but Sean holed the
shot, for a crucial late birdie. He too commented that "he
had never seen the course looking so good at this time of the year" and
marveled at the pace and consistency of the greens. www.sean-mason.co.uk
In a four way tie for third place one shot behind were four of
Devon's best and most experienced professionals. Barry Austin
(Downes Crediton), Iain Parker (Royal North Devon), Neil Holman
(Torbay
Driving Range) and the talented Nick Horrocks from (Plymouth
Golf Centre). Austin who loves playing at RND and is a superb
wind player
often plays his best golf when the conditions are at their toughest.
Parker who recovered from a 6, 5 start said "I have never
hit so many three wood second shots into greens which I'm normally
approaching with a wedge or nine iron" he too has been working
on his game with Exeter Pro Milne and seems to have found some
consistency in his game. Neil Holman who is regarded as Devon's
`grittiest competitor` got his head down right from the start,
and managed his game brilliantly, saving par with some great
work around the greens on several occasions. It was great to
see Britain's
`tallest golf pro` Nick Horrocks who stands 6 foot 8 hitting
some of his best form. The distances he is able to launch his
drives,
stunned his playing partners. He drove the 421 third hole and
the 371 yard 11th and 423 yard 12th hole. If Nick was playing
on the
main European Tour he would undoubtedly lead the driving distance
statistics. He hopes to play more golf again this year as his
troublesome left knee feels much stronger. Could this be a similar
problem
to the one Tiger Woods has struggled with over the last few years?
In the team competition local players undoubtedly had the advantage
and filled many of the top places but the winning team was brought
home by David Jeffs professional at Libbaton Golf Club with his
team of Sam Raymont 8 handicap , Lucy Leetham 27 handicap who
has only been playing for a year but could still reach all the
par
fours in two! and David Henson who plays off 7.
Main sponsor on the day David Barker of Barker Goodwin was in the
team lead by Gary Milne which finished second and included home
club match captain Paul Griffin and fellow RND member Paul Sturges.
In third place was home professional Iain Parker with his team
of Sean Loze, Geoff Giddy and rising star 14 year old Jimmy Mullen
who if he continues to progress as he has over the last few years
will surely go on to be one of the best players in the county.
Devon PGA Captain Iain Parker thanked everybody at RND particularly
club pro Mike Wilson for superbly organising the days event.
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