Royal North Devon Golf Club Wednesday 3rd June 2009 Professional Individual First Place 69 Sean Mason (Exeter) Second Place 71 Nick Horrocks (Plymouth Golf Centre) Third Place 71 Paul Hendiksen (Fingle Glen) Team Scores First Place -17 Mike Wilson (Pro) Jimmy Mullen, Chris McCarthy, Darren Found Second Place -15 Nick Cook (Pro) G Laing, M Lee, N Tedesco Third Place -15 Duncan Arnold (Pro) Steve Bristow, A Metters, C Call

Winning Pro Sean Mason with the day's sponsor, David Barker. Mike Wilson with his winning team

The Fourth Annual Pro Am at England's Oldest Golf Course, Royal North Devon was played last Wednesday the 3rd of June. The weather on the day could not have better, with warm sunshine and light winds all day. The greens were superb and although not as quick as they can be, were running at a respectable 10 on the stimp meter.The pin`s as usual at RND were set very tough to test the Professionals, and combined with a firm fast running course this was real links golf at its best. The event was sponsored by local firm Barker Goodwin with support from Thrifty Car and Van hire, David Barker from the main sponsors played on the day and was on hand to present the winning Professional`s and teams with their prizes. Winning Pro score on the day was a superb 69 by RND `Specialist` Sean Mason, who loves links golf, and has his name on the historic honours board`s from his days as an amateur. Sean who is seeing his game improve after 18 months of hard work on his technique, was delighted to get another win at RND under his belt. His shot of the day was a 3 wood second shot on the 555 yard par five 17th, he had 245 yards to the pin, which was right on the limit with his 3 wood, and with the ditch just in front of the green to carry, it was a high risk shot. He smashed a beautiful high draw to within 10 feet of the pin which left his amateur playing partners stunned!! Sean commented "I'm starting to play much better now, but still get the occasional shot that leaks out to the right, but I am spending hours on the Exeter practice ground, and feel close to getting back to my best." Tied in second place were big hitting Nick Horrocks and Alps tour player Paul Hendriksen. Nick who is averaging 315 yards from the tee would probably be amongst the longest hitters on the European tour, also loves visiting the links at RND. His power hitting gives him a huge advantage, but he felt that even going into the firm greens with short irons for most of the round, it was still difficult to get close to the testing pin positions. Hendriksen who has also played a lot of County amateur golf at RND felt that he had left a few shots out on the golf course but was nevertheless pleased to break par. In the team event local Club Professional Mike Wilson brought home the winning team of RND members which included new club secretary Darren Found and greenkeeper Chris McCarthy. The team also included rising star 15 year old Jimmy Mullen who was round in a gross 72 himself. Both Wilson and Mullen holed outrageous putts from 35 and 40 feet across the 18th green for birdies which proved crucial to their team victory. The days event was superbly put together and organised by Mike Wilson and both he, and RND Head Professional Iain Parker thanked the main sponsors and the greenkeeping team for helping make the day a huge success. Everybody is looking forward to next season's event and hopefully it will be played in similar weather.