A birdie-laden second round at Nelson saw Pleasington’s Calum Metcalfe come through the field to win yet another Northern Order of Merit competition on Sunday.
FORMAT: 36-hole stroke play
The Lancashire Men’s regular, who won the overall Northern Order of Merit in 2019, even managed to overcome a mild hangover to edge out Jack Brooks on countback. A day earlier the 38-year-old had recorded the Best Gross in his local club medal (67) and celebrated for longer than he should.
Metcalfe, who was in the third group out, was first to admit having one too many effected him in the first round, especially towards the end of his 71.
However after a “nice lunch”, he came out a man inspired and shot a 67 to just do enough to claim the Trafalgar Trophy ahead of his county team-mate, who had led by four at halfway.
“In the morning I started off ok but was really flagging towards the end and was just trying to shoot something around level to stay in it, “ admitted Metcalfe, who just missed out on winning the Lancashire’s Men championship in June. He lost in a play-off to Hillside’s Richie Blundell.
“After eight birdies in the medal on Saturday at Plessy, I had a few too many beers. Round one was a grind but after that chicken wrap I was firing at all the flags and rolling in the putts.”
Metcalfe’s three-under 67 included eight birdies and came to life as he bridied three holes in a row, starting at the second.
An outrageous birdie at six – his 16-footer included six feet of break before “dropping in dead weight” – was followed by another at nine and he turned four under for his round.
He got to five under thanks to his third two of the afternoon at the 12th before back-to-back bogeys sent him back to two under for the for the tournament.
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After a “big” birdie on 17 and then his failure to birdie the short par four 18th, Metcalfe thought it was not quite going to be enough with Brooks (The Mere) and Royal Lytham duo Callan Barrow and Jamie Van Wyk playing in the final group.
“After I came in, after my second round, the wind died down so I thought I was looking at second or third.”
Brooks, who is now second in the overall standings, was the first to finish (71) and an hour later 2021 Scottish Open champion Barrow and Van Wyk, playing in the final group, completed their efforts nearly four hours after the long-time leader. The former came in with a 68 to finish third overall while his club-mate shot the lowest round of the day (66) to take fourth.