A titanic battle between two golfers for a coveted club trophy was decided on the very last putt of their rounds.
More than 150 members of Leighton Buzzard’ Plantation Road club competed for the Henley Cup with accountant Nick Roberts and IT manager Simon Rose, players with identical 15-handicaps, top finishers with scores of +5.
Former Vandyke student Simon, 46, had one hand on the trophy completing the first 12 holes with a score of +8, while ex-Mentmore golfer Nick who joined the Leighton club four years ago, got off to a slow start, but was trailing on +4 at the halfway stage.
The drama was played out on the last three holes, with Simon dropping three shots while Nick added one to his score.
The result was decided on the 18th, with Nick taking the trophy on countback after Simon lipped out with a five-foot putt, leaving him runner-up in a major competition for a second time since joining the club.
Said Nick: “When I heard Simon had a score of +8 with just a few holes to play, I thought my chance of winning my first trophy at Leighton had gone. To win it on the last hole was an unexpected result.”
Other top finishers were Stephen Schmidt, Peter Townley, Izzy Ramdeen, Dharm Naveen Diwakar and Simon Rossiter with scores of +4 and Peter Sheridan, Graham Robinson, Howard Leonard, Steven Molyneaux, Jamie Stone and Christian Lester finishing on +3.
The Henley Cup will be presented to Nick by Club Captain Simon Rossiter on a date to be arranged once social distancing rules have been relaxed.
Ex-Captain and former club President John Preston teamed up with Graham Pellow, Lynne Newnham and Jane Perry to win the McKinnon Texas scramble with a score of 57.8, 0.2 of a shot clear of runners-up Steve Maddison, Russell Rowles, Joyce Young and Joan Waples.
Leighton golfers Sandra Carter and Barbara Rickard won the Buzzard Birdies match at Three Locks, beating Val Brown and Marilyn Myatt on countback after both pairs carded 37 points. Sandra is Ladies Captain elect at Leighton and will succeed Christine Rimmer later in the year, with Lesley Bednarek taking over as Vice Captain.