English seniors championship

It gave him a 54-hole tally of 224 and saw him finish a stroke ahead of his Littlestone clubmate Andrew Stracey, who returned 77, and two clear of Andrew Carman from Coventry with 76.

Having finished second and third in previous championships, Reynolds was naturally delighted. “I'm absolutely thrilled to win my national title,” he said. “I'm also delighted that my clubmate Andrew was second. It has been a great day for the Kent boys.”

Reynolds began the day four strokes behind Stracey and two adrift of Carman and Geoff King from Essex. But that deficit was soon overcome.

A birdie-eagle start gave Reynolds every incentive and he was soon setting the pace for everyone to follow.

“I wanted to shoot 72 which I felt would give me a chance but after that start I felt a really good round was on the cards,” Reynolds added. “But I also felt the course would come back and bite me at some stage and it did.”

He had another birdie to be four under through six holes but a double bogey at the eighth and a bogey at nine saw him out in 36. Another birdie came at the long 13th but further bogeys at 15 and 17 brought him home in level par.

“After the difficulties of the previous days, the course was a delight to play today, much fairer while the pins were more accessible,” he added. “But having come so close before, this is a dream come true.”

Stracey and Carman were in the hunt to the bitter end. Both needed a birdie from the final two holes to force a playoff, but Carman's hopes disappeared with a bogey at the 17th, while Stracey couldn't do better than two pars.

In contrast to the over-par scoring of the previous two days, the cooler and damper conditions brought immediate dividends for Godfrey Kelly from the Isle of Man.

The 58 year old from Peel shot a four-under-par 68, the best of the week, and saw him set the target which many failed to match until the front-runners came in.

Out in 32 with four birdies, Kelly added another at the long 13th and only an indifferent finish with bogeys at the 16th and short 18th, where he three-putted, added a note of disappointment.

“I got off to a flying start by holing from 25 feet for birdie at the second and never looked back,” he said. “I kept knocking it close and all my birdies were not further than three feet.

“I managed to bogey the 16th which was down to lack of knowledge of the course and I three-putted the last when I knocked my first putt three feet past and missed it coming back.”

Kelly, the 58 year old Isle of Man seniors champion, was helped by having his good friend Win Ellis, Vice President of the Middlesex Golf Union, on his bag and was thrilled by the experience of playing his first English Seniors.

“I've had such a good time that I will try to persuade some more guys from the island to come over next year at Carlisle,” he added.

In the end, Kelly finished tied fourth on 227 with King (77) and Martin Farmer (73) from North Hants.

However, Carman won the Category A age group (55–59), King the Category B (60-64) on 227, Gaius Potton Category C (65-69) on 231, and Graham Steel Category D (over 70) with 236.

Steel and Stracey steal show at English Seniors
5th June 2009

Graham Steel and Andrew Stracey stole the show on an eventful second day of the English Seniors Championship, Stracey, (photo © Tom Ward), poised for his second seniors title in as many weeks.

Andrew Stacey (photo Tom Ward)

Steel, champion in 1994 and now aged 74, holed-in-one on the 127-yard tenth hole at Old Fold Manor on his way to a 76 for 154 to receive the biggest cheer of the day. It leaves him within striking distance of the leaders after Stracey fired a 76 at Moor Park to lead by two strokes on 148. But he wasn't the only one buying the drinks. Roger Dew from Harpenden Common also 'aced' the tenth in a round of 78 but his overall tally of 167 meant he didn't qualify for the final round.

Stracey, from the Littlestone club in Kent, won the Irish Open Seniors at Bangor in what was his maiden seniors championship. He missed the cut in the Scottish Seniors but is on track for another triumph.

“I had a good front nine of 37 but the wheels fell off a little over the final five holes,” he said. “But I'm happy to be a front-runner. I had a five shot lead in Ireland and I feel comfortable in that position.”

His nearest challengers on 150 are Geoff King from Essex, who matched the par of 71 at Old Fold Manor, and Coventry's Andrew Carman, who returned 78 over the more difficult Moor Park.

King, a seniors international from the West Essex club, was out in 33, three under par, at Old Fold Manor but gave all those shots back in a homeward 38.

“You are never happy with this game and I wanted to come home in 33,” he said. Thinking of tomorrow, he added: “Now I've got to find a caddie. I'll have to talk to the wife and see if she'll do it. She used to but she sacked me a few years ago.”

Carman, an England international three decades ago, shared the lead overnight after a 72 at Old Fold Manor but he found the High Course at Moor Park a harder nut to crack.

“A lot of people would have said that was the best 78 they'd ever had,” he said. “I felt the scores would be high but I tried to respect the pin positions but that was occasionally impossible. It caught me out on a number of occasions but you just have to keep battling away. However, I'm happy with my position and if I play well tomorrow I'll be in with a chance.”

For the second successive day the greens at Moor Park proved the biggest talking point with virtually every player falling foul of the tricky borrows and rock-hard surfaces. But as one player said: “They were perfect to putt on but I just wasn't good enough.”

Of the former champions in the field, Douglas Arnold shot 80 at Moor Park for 156 and said: “The greens were very testing. Unfortunately, good shots were not rewarded while the pin positions were tough. But it is the same for everyone.”

However, one man not complaining was Marshall Newman from Yorkshire, who went round Moor Park in 75 shots, the best of the day over the High Course. That followed an 84 yesterday at the ‘more friendly' Old Fold Manor.

“I suppose I just got lucky,” he said modestly. “I three-putted a couple of times but I managed to par the two difficult par threes which made a big difference. At the 12th my ball finished on the up slope 52 yards from the pin, while I got up-and-down from a bunker at the 18th.

“I set myself a target of 75 which I matched but my playing partners gave me a lot of confidence,” added the four-handicapper from the Moor Allerton club in Leeds.

The cut came at 161 with 66 players qualifying for tomorrow's final round at Moor Park.

Play starts at 8.30am each day and admission is free. For those unable to attend, live scoring and news updates will available on the Championships Section of the EGU website, www.englishgolfunion.org .

Three-way tie for lead in English Seniors
4th June 2009

A pair of internationals, in Chris Reynolds and Andrew Carman and a potential one in Andrew Stracey, share the lead after a contrasting opening day to the English Men's Seniors Championship.

Chris Reynolds (photo Tom Ward)

ll three carded one-over-par 72 at Old Fold Manor where scoring was much easier than at Moor Park, which proved a sterner test, reflected in the returns from the High Course.

Reynolds (photo © Tom Ward), an England senior international since 2006, has finished runner-up and third in this championship so has put himself in a position to improve on that.

“I would have taken 72 before the start so I'm happy,” he said. “I kept the ball mostly in play and got out of position on the greens a couple of times which made it difficult to two putt. The greens were excellent and I had five birdies but looking at the scores, Moor Park will be a different proposition tomorrow.”

Carman, who has only just qualified as a senior following his 55th birthday, was equally happy with his lot.

“I played well off the tee where I hit a lot of three-woods and irons,” he said. “I had a practice round at Old Fold a couple of Saturdays ago which paid off. However, I also missed a lot of birdie chances so it could have been a whole lot better.”

Carman, who was an England international in 1979 and '80 and Chairman of Selectors for five years, felt his seniors debut last week in Ireland was good preparation.

“The greens there were good and that helped a lot,” he added.

Stracey, another newcomer to the seniors game – this is his third seniors tournament – is a clubmate of Reynolds at Littlestone. His 72 came despite an indifferent start.

“I four-putted the first green which I feel was because the practice putting green was completely different to those on the course,” he said. “But it is nice to be playing competitive golf again. Between the ages of 40 and 55 you seem to be in the doldrums but everyone is serious about seniors golf.”

Stracey is certainly the man in form. He won the Irish Open Seniors last week and having reached three Presidents Putter finals, he could be the man to beat.

The three front-runners at Old Fold Manor lead by a shot from Stewart King, another seniors international , and by two from the rest of the field.

The best score at Moor Park, where the greens seemed to catch everyone out, was 76 from Robert Head of Brockett Hall.

“I putted well but I had a few three putts which is inevitable on those greens,” he said. “I used to live locally so I know this course pretty well but you can easily come unstuck here where the slopes and borrows are so tricky.”

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