Burghley duo continue quest for foursomes success
Burghley Park junior Teddy Crooke excelled himself last weekend in the Lincolnshire Boys County Championship held at Spalding Golf Club, in which more than 70 players took part, after winning the Under 14 title by a massive 18 shots.
Thankfully, the threat of thunderstorms never materialised, but the strong gusting winds made things tricky.
In the morning round Crooke - the reigning junior champion at Burghley - started slowly, dropping shots on the first three holes, but then settled into a good rhythm, dropping only three more shots over the rest of his round to reach the lunch break with a gross 78 (net 72).
The weather deteriorated in the afternoon, causing problems for all the players, and Crooke struggled on the front nine to reach the turn 10 over, before regrouping and dropping only three more shots on the back nine.
His finishing gross 85 gave him a final total of 163, 18 better than his nearest challenger, and the county title.
He now goes through to the ‘Champion of Champions’ Junior Championship at Newark Golf Club in September.
Burghley’s Sanjay Nithiyilingam finished just out of the podium places in the Under 18 event, with a total of 154 gross, after rounds of 76 and 78.
Burghley Park’s Nicky Plumtree and Jane Saggers continued their quest to make the national finals of the Daily Mail Foursomes knockout event.
They are now through to the fifth Round after having defeated a strong pair from Chilwell Manor in Nottingham in their match at Burghley last week.
The course was looking good after the previous night’s thunderstorms and Plumtree and Saggers soon discovered that they were in for a tough fight.
The Chilwell pair got their noses in front early, winning the first, and it took the Burghley team four holes before they were able to get back on terms, claiming the fifth to go all square.
That was the signal to crank up the pressure, and Burghley went one up on the seventh, and then won the ninth to reach the turn two up.
But the visitors weren’t about to roll over and took the 10th to reduce Burghley’s lead to just one hole.
However, that provided the stimulus that the home side needed, as they then proceeded to halve the 11th and then win four holes in a row to secure a 5&3 victory on the 15th green.
The Burghley pair have already knocked out Luffenham Heath, Toft Hotel and Belton Park, and look forward with anticipation to discovering who will be their next opponents.
The Men’s Stableford on Saturday at Burghley Park attracted 96 entries and saw one of the tightest finishes at Burghley for some time as six players all finished on 38 points.
David McAlpine (8) had the best back nine, carding 21 points, so claimed the win on countback.
His front nine was steady, with a birdie on three, before he hit top form on the back nine, which he completed in just one over par gross with birdies on 11 and 16 and nothing worse than a bogey on his card.
He was first in Division One, but was pushed very hard by in-form Teddy Crooke (6), fresh from his success in the Lincolnshire Under 14 Championship, who also carded 38 points and took second spot ahead of Ryan Birtles (9) on the same score. Birtles was cut to eight.
In Division Two, Geoff McDonald (12) also scored 38 points to take top spot, but was left rueing the two blobs he carded, which could have given him the overall win. Hhe was cut to 11.
Adrian Boyden (10) was second, with yet another 38, with Jordan Mayman (15) third on 37.
Division Three was claimed by Rob Sorrell (17) with 38 points, which saw him cut to 16. Tim Chapman (17) was second with 35 points, beating Bob Cleveland (16) on countback on the same score.
The Ladies Ping four-ball Better Ball Stableford at Burghley Park on Sunday saw some stunning scoring, especially since it was played off 90 per cent handicap.
Jan Devlin (20) and Helen Cox (14) had one of those rounds which everyone dreams about, handing in a card which showed they had scored 47 points.
Devlin dominated the scoring on the front nine, contributing 17 points to the team total, as the pair reached the turn with 23 points.
Cox then took over, parring the next six holes, and contributing 22 of the 24 points scored on the back nine.
They were only seven over par gross for their better ball round, but they didn’t have things all their own way as two other pairs also went over 40 points.
Early starters Gill Bedford (17) and Lynda Lancaster (19) gelled well, sharing the majority of the scoring, and set the target with an impressive 44 points, but were overhauled by the performance of Devlin and Cox, finishing second.
Nicky Plumtree (12) and Michelle Powell (15) had nothing worse than a bogey on their card and took third spot with 42 points.
Thirty ladies turned out for a nine-hole Stableford at Burghley on Tuesday, with Stephanie Crook (23) emerging as winner with 20 points, despite failing to score on the fourth hole. Her reward was a cut to 22.
Jenny Walsh (36) took second place with 19 points (again with a blob) and Ann Garrad (31) was third with 19 and was cut to 30.
In Burghley Park’s Bank Holiday Texas Scramble, victory went to the team of Brett Campbell, Joe Lippett, Gary Lippett and John Knight, beating Gary Harrison, Dave Marsden, Mike Beaumont and Terry Austin into second place. In third spot were Jorge Tinoco, Neil Harden, Adrian Hill and Charlie Barwis.
