GOOD EVANS WINS WITH LATE BIRDIE BURST
 Birdies
at the closing two holes steered Yorkshire’s Gareth
Evans, to the English County Champions title on a glorious
sunny day over the Hotchkin Course at Woodhall Spa.
Evans (pictured left - photo courtesy of Tom Ward) signed
for a second round 69 for 141, five under par, and a one shot
victory from Northumberland’s George Cowan, who also
went round in 69, and Tom Lawson from BB&O with 71.
Cumbria’s William Bowe with 71 and Essex teenager Dale
Whitnell, who added a 74 to his opening 69, finished fourth
on 143.
Evans (pictured left - photo courtesy of Tom Ward), who started
the second round three strokes behind Whitnell, said: “I
didn’t think I had a chance of winning after a morning
72. I felt I needed to shoot 68 or better so I just got stuck
in.
“But this means so much. My biggest win before this
was the Yorkshire Championship in July.”
Evans, 27, from the Northcliffe club in Bradford, said he
knew the situation when he reached the turn on two under par.
He reached four under with birdies at the tenth and 14th but
looked to have blown his chance when he pulled his second
shot almost into bushes on the 15th. But from an almost impossible
lie he got up-and-down to save par.
That seemed to be the spur he needed and he picked up further
shots from ten feet at the 17th and from six at the last.
Then he spend an agonising wait to see it anyone could match
his target with Bowe and Cowan the biggest dangers.
Bowe got to two under through 15 but missed another chance
at 16. Although he birdied the 17th, he saw another chance
escape with a six-footer at the last. “I might as well
have putted with my foot,” he lamented.
So the spotlight switched to 26 year old Cowan, who got to
three under with three to play. But he blocked his three-wood
tee-shot at the 16th into bushes and could only chip out sideways
on his way to a bogey five. He had a chance at 17 but his
ten-footer for birdie stayed above ground. “I thought
it was in but it slipped over the edge,” he said.
He came to the last needing an eagle three to tie but his
chances seemed slim when his approach finished in the back
fringe some 50 feet from the hole. He made a brave attempt
to hole the putt but could only manage a birdie to take second
place on countback.
David Horsey made a brave defence of the title but despite
an opening 70 he could only add a 75 for 145 and joint seventh
spot.
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