It's a breeze as Arnold nets third Seniors title
 Douglas
Arnold, won his third English Men’s Seniors Amateur
Championship despite high winds at Yelverton in Devon.
Even a closing 79 was good enough for the Sussex man (pictured,
photo courtesy of Tom Ward) to complete his title hat-trick
after victories in 2002 and 2003. The 59 year old from Crawley
finished on 221, four strokes ahead of local man Bob Knott,
who returned 78, and Lancastrian Alan Squires with 81.
It was a tough day for the 60-strong field of over 55s. A
gusting wind allied to bone hard fairways and greens provided
a tough examination which Arnold passed with flying colours.
“This is unbelievable,” he said. “To win
once was good but to win three times is incredible.”
Nevertheless, in his moment of victory Arnold had thoughts
for his England seniors team-mate Roy Smethurst, who won in
2005 and is recovering from surgery. “This is a slightly
hollow victory because Roy wasn’t here,” he added.
“It would have been a better win if he’d been
playing, otherwise I’m over the moon.”
Not that it was plain sailing for the Sussex man. Starting
the day two off the pace, he dropped six shots over the first
seven holes and felt he was out of the race. But birdies at
the 11th and 12th put him back on track and he could even
afford to drop four more strokes over the closing four holes
and still have some to spare.
“I didn’t think I would win after having a bad
start but I pulled it round in the middle of the round then
dropped four shots in the last four holes. I didn’t
think I’d won until my England colleague David Lane
came up to me on the final green. I don’t normally mind
playing in the wind but it was tough today. Before I teed
off I thought if I could shoot 76 I’d be happy. In the
end 79 proved good enough.”
Proving how tough conditions were, only five players broke
80 while four took over 90. One of the five was Knott, whose
78 gave him second place overall for the second successive
year, edging out Squires, who saw his chance disappear with
six dropped shot over the closing seven holes.
The best round of the day, 77 from Howard Moxon, earned the
Kent man equal fifth place on 228, a shot behind Gaius Potton,
the overnight leader, who slipped back with 87.
However, Squires won the A Category for players aged under
60, Potton Category B for 60-64, Moxon Category C for 65-69,
and Gordon Edwards for the over 70s.
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