On a warm but overcast and most importantly dry (almost) Friday 19th July Stocksfield Golf Club hosted the Prostate Cancer UK Open organised and managed by Paul Nash of Play2Support. 44 players, 22 pairs, tee'd off in front of the charity gazebo, all competing for the SGC Cup and prizes for in-play competitions as well as the the top 3 places. It was not the usual 4BBB format, instead it was combined scores so everyone had to record their stableford score in order to play for the overall, front 9, back 9 and most 3s & 4s prizes. In addition, in the spirit of equality the tournament was open to players of all abilities, gender and ages so there was a prize for the best placed female/mixed pair and the best placed junior pair.
A party of 12 players from Renishaw Park Golf Club, nr Sheffield chose this tournament as the final stop on their week long "Look North' region golf tour and at the end of the day 4 of them were pleased with their choice. Chris Searle and Nick Hewison with handicaps of 21 & 13 and rounds of 42 & 35 respectively, won the first place prize of the SGC Cup and a 4 ball @ Brampton with an overall combined score of 77. It also meant they got first places in the Front 9 competition with a combined score of 41 and the most 3s & 4s with 11. Fortunately, they did not win everything! Second place, however, also went to Sheffield with Paul Turton (11) and Tony Ashmore (11) achieving a combined score of 70 and a 4 ball @ Consett. Only 2 juniors turned up so James Neuman and Thomas Mitchell both got golf caps before they even started and one of them, Thomas, in partnership with Paul Joyce, both from Stocksfield managed 3rd place overall with a combined score of 68. Tom Younger (14) and Stephen Fawcett (10) from Alston Moor Golf Club cared a combined back 9 score of 39 so each won a box of 12 Titleist golf balls. The nearest the pin competition was won by father and son combo from Stocksfield, Graeme (13) and James (24) Tolchard, with a combined distance of 15.2m...the short 18th at Stocksfield is harder than it looks!!
Finally, I would like to thank the rest of the players from Stocksfield, Consett, Alston Moor and Sheffield for helping to raise over £800 in donations and raffle tickets. Don't forget to spread the word about the next Play2Support tournament also in aid of Prostate Cancer UK, the 'Look North' Senior (55+) Pairs Open to be held at Stocksfield on Friday 11th October 2019.
