Bromborough Golf Club is a regular host for top Cheshire events and they put on their usual top quality facilities and service, blessed by good weather and a friendly welcome for Cheshire’s top senior men golfers over two memorable days.
On a superbly presented and challenging course the first day’s pace was set by Iain Bartholomew (Prestbury) 72 from Ian Quirk (Lymm) 74.
In round two Guy Hindle (Warrington) had the best individual score of 72 but his opening round of 85 kept him out of the title race and it came down to an 18th hole drama with a superb chip and putt from 2020 champion Martin Keates (Prestbury) for a 151 total to leave him just ahead of Paul Knight Eastham Lodge 152 and Ian Gemmell (Stockport) and Iain Bartholomew, both 153.
There were more thrills on day one with aces from Peter Young (Didsbury) and Stephen Brown (Warrington) for which they were presented with a county cap for Peter and a county shirt for Stephen from CUGC President Roy Claxton.
The Gross Age band prizes went to Paul Knight (55-59) 152, Ian Quirk (60-64) 155 and Ian Gemmell (65 and over) 153
The net winners were Chris Turner Portal (55-59) 145. Jonathan Crickmore Walton Hall (60-64) 146 and Brian Newman Bromborough (65 and over) 144.
CUGC President Roy Claxton gave deserved praise to all at Bromborough, both on and off the course and the CUGC members for putting a great effort in staging an excellent competition and he presented Bromborough Captain Graham Swaby with a county plaque for the club to display in the clubhouse
New champions Martin Keates outlined his route to the championship:”Even though I have struggled at Bromborough in the past, with the help of Matt Nixon at Sandiway, my game has been turning round and I have always felt that the course should suit me and I therefore thought I could put in a decent performance, without any thought of winning of course, which requires many stars to align.
“On this occasion I happened to hit the best pitch shot of my life on the 36th hole, from near the practice chipping green, for a tap in par – to win by one!”
“I would like to thank Bromborough GC for presenting a very well conditioned course and creating a tremendous test, as well as all the County officials and volunteers for putting on a very well run championship.”
Graham Swaby added: “A big thank you again to the CUGC for allowing Bromborough to host the event and also to all of the volunteers over the course of two days as without their help these events don’t happen.”
See the full results here:
https://cugc-seniorstrokeplay2024.golfgenius.com/pages/10109636469418142294
Copy: Geoff Garnett
Images: Geoff Garnett and CUGC
