It’s been a golden few weeks for Bolton’s Danny Belch with the experienced former pro collecting his second successive Apeiron Northern Order of Merit victory at Pleasington last night.
FORMAT: 36-hole stroke play
The 41-year-old collected his first Northern Order of Merit victory in two years at Nelson last Sunday and then tackled Open Final Qualifying at West Lancashire on Tuesday, finishing in a tie for one over (29th).
In the Pleasington Antlers, Belch finished two clear of Carlisle’s Christopher Edge and Declan Buksh (Marsden Park) and is now second in the overall standings behind long-time leader Andrew Haswell (Ormskirk).
Belch was full of praise for the Pleasington track and admitted, having been one of he early starters, he thought his one-under-par total was going to come up a bit shy.
“The course was absolutely fantastic,” said Belch. “I was so impressed with it. The set-up was a credit to the club. The greens were so pure and aesthetically it was something to behold. I know the club have worked hard to achieve that and one of the great things about The Northern Order of Merit is you get to play two rounds on courses like this for £50.
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“After shooting level par in the second round I would have been happy with a top three finish but I think we got the luck of the draw with the weather. It came in a bit in the afternoon. I thought I need to shoot three under.”
At halfway Belch shared the lead with Ormskirk’s Jake Wiltshire on two under and his afternoon effort really got going on the tenth, where he held a 25-footer for par before the birdieing the next two.
At the 11th he wedged in to five feet and then holed another long one on 12.
On 17 a poor approach led to a bogey and he left his birdie effort in the jaws at the last.
However it proved enough with Wiltshire closing with a 75 while no-one broke par in the afternoon. Belch was one of five competitors to register a second-round 71, one of them being Edge, who claimed second on countback.