Seven-time Gloucestershire champion Nick Day finally got his hands on the big one as foggy weather disrupted the Men’s Champion of Champions final at Woodhall Spa yesterday.
FORMAT: 36-hole stroke play
A delayed start meant the 24 competitors played 27 rather than 36 holes but the long wait did not affect the quality of golf with half the field finishing under par.
And leading the way was Day, who was runner-up to Andrew Minnikin (City of Newcastle) last year. The Henbury star was at his imperious best as he just missed one green in regulation all day on his way to a nine under par total, which left him three ahead of Max Hopkins (Hertfordshire) and Jake Plumb (Cambridgeshire).
“I had a brilliant time,” said the 42-year-old, who was part of the Gloucestershire team who won the county championship finals last September.
“I didn’t miss a shot. At 13th I had to get up and down after a poor drive but apart from that I played really well. Bearing that in mind, six under was just about the worst score I could have shot. I left a couple in the hole as well.”
The bad weather delayed the start by more than two hours on the Hotchkin course and all the competitors played 16 thru 18 an then the first six holes. With the Seniors finishing their event, organisers just could not work it so the men played a full two rounds.
Day added: “It did feel a bit weird and the first nine felt like a bit of a warm-up but it was nice to get that three under under my belt.”
The Henbury ace, playing alongside Norfolk’s Warren Bates and Eliot Baker (Devon) in the first group out, started the second round two ahead of the field and wasted no time in setting a stiff target for the rest.
His first birdie of the afternoon came at the fifth where he converted from eight feet after flushing a nine iron.
At the par five sixth he took full advantage after finishing the putting surface in two and would reach the turn in 34.
His putter really got hot at the start of the back nine as he rolled in a 30-footer at the tenth and then a 25-footer on 11 but had to settle for par at the next as his birdie attempt came to rest on the lip.
There would be no such agony on the par five 14th where he got up and down to get to five under for his round and it got even better two holes later as he knocked a wedge to six feet and holed out.
There was another close call at the 17th but two pars to finish ensured a bogey-free 67 and an incredibly stiff target for the rest to chase down.
Hopkins and Plumb gave it a good go. The former birdied three of the last four to gain a share of second alongside the impressive Links GC junior, who went bogey free in compiling a five-under-par 68.
For Day, who also this year won the South West Stroke Play title, the event represented the first of three national finals on successive weekends. This week he joins his brother Michael and Callum Mortimore in representing Henbury at the Champion club at Lilley Brook and then seven days later will be part of the Gloucestershire side hoping to defend their County Finals crown.
Day added: “I guess from a personal perspective this has been my best ever year and we (Henbury) have to have a good chance at Lilley Brook. We’ve all played the course a lot with it being a Gloucestershire venue and we will give it a really good go.”
In the men’s seniors, former pro Warren Bladon came through strongly in the afternoon to edge out long-time leader Richard Tomlin (Kent) by one shot.
The Warwickshire champion and England Seniors international birdied two of the last three while Tomlin bogeyed 15 and 17 to ensure a dramatic finish.
There were also late fireworks in the Boys final on Saturday where 15-year-old Essex champion Charlie Croker birdied four of the last five to win by one from Cumbria’s Joel Hornby, who arrived on the back of breaking the course record at Carus Green last month in qualifying with rounds of 64 (-6) and 65 (-5).