Fixtures/Results

The Devon Professionals played the sixth of their winter Order of Merit Medal at East Devon this Thursday, an excellent entry of 36 players, enjoyed competing at one of the Counties best courses. The weather on the day was very kind with sunshine and no wind, this was winter golf at its best.

Head greenkeper Paul Newcome and club Secretary Julian Reynolds pulled out all the stops to set up the course superbly, with the green running fast and true. The club have added three or four new tees which have stiffened the challenge, adding about 150 yds in length, and this was the first time many of the pro`s had played the new set up.

With some tough pin`s set accurate iron play, and good putting were going to be important. The winner on the day had both areas covered, Okehampton`s Ashley Moon , known more for his power hitting , displayed a great touch on and around the greens to shoot a two under par 68. Ashley put his success down to a change of weights in his putter, he placed a heavier weight in the toe end of his adjustable putter and this gave him the confidence to hole out superbly.
In fact he did not drop a shot, and although he hit only 11 greens in regulation most of his misses were on the fringes which meant that some of his best shots were good two putts from the edges.

His win moved him to the top of the OOM at the halfway stage by the narrowest of margins from Barry Austin and Jody Bee, with six players now separated by just 8 points this could be one of the closest Order of Merit`s seasons for years.

In second place and finishing his round in great style hitting a wedge stone dead for birdie at the last, was Stover`s James Langmead. James loves the winter events, and enjoys the distraction from his busy life as a successful club pro.

In third on his own was Andy Norman who represents `The Golf Company` Andy's level par round was a model of consistency, and he hit 16 greens in regulation. He too made a minor weight adjustment , this time to his Driver , adding 6 grams to the head , this worked a treat and he was back to his usual accurate best.

With the Christmas break, the next event will be in mid January at Yelverton.

Devon PGA Captain Iain Parker thanked everybody at East Devon for staging the event and presented the club with a cheque for £70 to help with their thriving junior development programme.