Brokenhurst Manor lift Champion Club title again
 Brokenhurst
Manor from Hampshire won the English Champion Club Tournament
for the second time when their three-man team finished two
strokes ahead of the field at Hesketh Golf Cub this weekend
(picture © Tom Ward).
Their aggregate of 452 was good enough to see them home ahead
of Worthing from Sussex with Hexham from Northumberland third
on 457.
With all three cards to count, Brokenhurst Manor were out
early and posted a second day aggregate of 227, then spent
several hours waiting to see if anyone could match their 20
over par tally. Jonathan Young returned 75 while his brother
Martin and teenager Robert Gowers shot 76.
“We are absolutely delighted,” said team captain
Jonathan Young. “This is about the fifth or sixth time
Martin and I have played in this and at last we’ve won.
I’m still in shock but we all contributed by putting
in decent scores. Robert really shot a great round yesterday
with 72 which got his handicap down to plus one.
“We were also pleased to be out early today. It is
always good to be out and post a good score and not having
to chase one. I also think we got the better of the conditions.”
But they had to wait around for the rest of the day to see
the outcome. “It is not good to have to sit around and
there was a lot of nail-biting. But it is always good when
you win.”
At the start of the day, the Hampshire trio were sharing
the lead with Sandiway but the Cheshire side faded with a
second day 239 to finish down the field on 464.
Instead it was Worthing who took up the challenge with Scott
Nightingale returning a level-par 72 backed by 76 from David
Fluke and 77 by Nigel Harrington. But their 454 came up a
little short.
Hesketh is never a course to take lightly and on another
testing day when the calm conditions gradually gave way to
a keen breeze, it bared its teeth.
Ben Taylor from Hexham in Northumberland, Jason Palmer from
Kirby Muxloe in Leicestershire, Richard Aisbitt from Brancepeth
Castle in Durham and John Piner from Cornish club Tehidy Park
also went round in level par but the best round of the day
and the only player to better it was under 16 cap Chris Lloyd.
The 15 year old from Bristol returned 71 with three birdies,
including the first two holes, and just two dropped shots.
His return helped The Kendleshire to joint sixth place on
460.
The last occasion Brokenhurst Manor took the title was 19
years ago in 1988 when they triumphed at Beaconsfield. They
now go forward to represent England in the European Champion
Club Tournament in Greece in November.
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