ARNOLD AND SMETHURST FACE CHALLENGE FOR SENIORS TITLE
 The
English Seniors Championship has been dominated by just two
men over the past seven years but could the monopoly be broken
when the title is disputed at Enville Golf Club in Staffordshire
on 6th - 8th June.
Douglas Arnold (pictured left - photo courtesy of Tom Ward)
from Sussex and Cheshire’s Roy Smethurst have been the
men to beat on the national over-55 scene since the turn of
the century and despite a number of newcomers to the game
no one has managed to break through.
Smethurst won the first of his four championships at Moor
Park in 2000 and successfully defended it at Sherwood Forest
and Coxmoor. Arnold won in the following two years at Heswell
and Bromborough and at Frilford Heath before Smethurst took
over again at John O’Gaunt in 2004 and at Prestbury
and Lymm in 2005.
A year ago at Yelverton and Tavistock, Smethurst was expected
to make it three-in-a-row with his fifth win but he was forced
to pull out after undergoing surgery. In his absence, Arnold
triumphed again.
The previous two champions, David Lane from BB&O (1997
& ‘99) and Jonathan Marks from Suffolk (1998) are
also in the field at Enville as are Gordon Edwards, joint
winner in 1996, and Graham Steel, who shared the title two
years earlier.
If a new name is to appear on the Roll of Honour he could
come from one of several recent senior internationals such
as Lancashire’s Alan Squires and Stewart King, Bob Knott
from Devon, or Kent-based Chris Reynolds.
The Championship is being played over both courses at Enville,
the Highgate and the Lodge, the club being situated on Highgate
Common, six miles west of Stourbridge.
Smethurst is due to tee off at 9.30am on Wednesday 6th June,
Knott at 9.40am, while Arnold begins his defence of the title
at 2pm, all on the Highgate. Reynolds starts at 1pm and Squires
at 1.30pm, both on the Lodge.
Two hundred and forty of the best over-55 golfers in the
country will be in action over the two courses on the first
two days after which there will be a cut, the leading 60 players
and ties competing for the final 18 holes on Friday the 8th.
As in previous years, there are four subsidiary competitions
based on age groups.
The leading players from this championship are likely to
be in the forefront of selection for the team to represent
England in the annual Seniors Home Internationals at Caldy
in Cheshire on 2nd - 4th October.
The event is free to attend and both Enville Golf Club and
the EGU would welcome spectators and supporters.
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