A change of putter worked wonders for Cheshire county player Chris Chilton as he finished seven shots clear of the field in the Acorn Trophy at Accrington yesterday.
FORMAT: 36-hole stroke play
The 30-year-old former Cheshire Cat champion has been struggling with the short stick all season and just decided to borrow an Odyssey putter from his best mate and work colleague Jon Beesley in time for the Acorn Trophy.
And the High Legh Park golfer “holed the world” in shooting a level par 140 while Northern Order of Merit leader Chris Parkinson (Penwortham) extended his lead at the top of the overall rankings thanks to a second-placed finish.
Chilton said: “I just nicked it off Jon on Friday and stuck it in the bag because I just thought ‘I can’t putt any worse with it’. I’ve had the same putter for years.
“I’ve been hitting the ball well but putting poorly but everything went in for me.
“That said I was surprised by the scores. I thought I might be one or two short. There were a few par fours that were driveable and even though it was windy, it wasn’t that difficult.”
Chilton led Parkinson by one at halfway having got off to a highly disconcerting start. At the par three opener he hit two provisionals although did find his first shot but had to take a drop and ended up taking a double bogey five.
He would also bogey the second but righted the ship with back-to-back birdies on a couple of short par fours, starting at the seventh, where he drove the ball within 40 yards of the green and then reached the edge of the putting surface at eight, making no mistake with two putts from distance.
At 14 he kept the momentum going with an excellent 15-footer for par and then rolled one in from 25 feet at the last to post a one-over-par 71.
After lunch he registered five birdies but came off the last a “bit disappointed” having made bogey on the 17th from the middle fo the fairway and then missing a six-footer for birdie at the last.
However Parkinson, bogeyed four of his first five holes, and could not mount a challenge but his 20-point return means he is 69 points clear of Greg Holmes (Royal Birkdale) in the overall standings.
And it was a good day to be called Chris with home player Chris Nuttall finishing a shot further back in third on eight over.
Chilton added: “We’ve got a county match against Lancashire on Saurday and it (the putter) is definitely staying in the bag.”