Two of Leighton Buzzard’s most successful golfing partnerships fought a titanic battle for a coveted club trophy, with the outcome decided by a birdie putt just a hole from the finishing line.
Between them, Paul Ellam and Steve Richardson and David Hawkins and Paul Atkinson have appeared in no less than six pairs finals in recent years – with each winning twice.
Last week they faced each other in the final of Leighton’s Mens Foursomes challenge for the Denis Jordan Trophy…..with the Ellam/Richardson duo securing victory with a birdie on the 17th which gave them an unassailable two hole lead.
Paul, 61, a Leighton member for 18 years and Steve, 56, 15 years a Leighton member, got off to a flying start, winning the first two holes. But former club Captain and ex-President David and two-times club champion Paul hit back, and with three holes to play, were all square.
But a miss-hit shot on the 16th cost them the hole and Steve’s timely birdie on the 17th settled what both sides described as being “an epic battle.”
Paul and Steve beat Graeme Foster and Izzy Ramdeen in their semi-final while David and Paul toppled Tony Conneely and Stuart Mills…before losing to their final opponents for the second time in four years.
Leighton’s Senior squad finished their inter-club season in fine style, beating Silverstone 6-1 with one match halved. After skipper Peter Myrants and partner Graham Robinson lost the opening match on the last hole, victory was secured with handsome wins by Andrew Mcdonald and Martin Broadley, Peter Sheridan and Tim Martin, Harry Adam and Keith Griffiths, Danny Nairne and Derek Read, Will Sampson and Dave Roberts and Ian Rimmer and Mike Turnock, with Denis Leitch and David Bishop halving their match.
The win was especially sweet for former baker Will Sampson who had to borrow a set of clubs to play after his own were stolen. His two hole victory with Dave Roberts meant the Senior squad posted their best away performance of the season, with an aggregate 14-2 win over Silverstone.
Tony Hurndall is Leighton’s new Henley Cup champion, beating Nigel Barnes on countback after both carded scores of +7 in the final. Derek Ellam took third spot with a score of +5, beating Neil Laming on countback, while other leading scores were: +4 Jeff Beasley; +3 Stephen Boud; +2 David Roberts, Brian Wilson, David Womack, Steven Molyneaux; +1 David Banwell, Julian Scarr, Joshua Rowles and Paul Dowdeswell.
Keith Edmunds is the new Leighton Sandhouse Society champion and will be Captain for the 2020 Series, with outgoing Captain P:hil Rickard President after both finished the season with 117 points from their best three of five scores during the summer.
PICTURE CAPTION:
Denis Jordan winners Paul Ellam (left) and Steve Richardson (right) pictured being presented with the trophy by Leighton Club Captain Robbie John.