The 48th running of the County Seniors Championship was held at the Ely City Golf Club on a lovely sunny day last Monday. 46 CAGU senior golfers took part with handicaps ranging from plus 1 to 17 and ages from 55 years to 76 years.
The lack of any rear rain in recent weeks meant that the course was running fast and would prove to be a difficult test for the old boys of the County. The greens were in excellent condition and at a good pace.
One of the early leaders was 60 year old Kenny Parsons from the Links Golf Club. Kenny has recently returned to golf after a break of 5 years away from the game when cycling became his first love. His steady round of one over par 73 included an even spread of birdies at the 4th, 8th, 12th and 16th holes.
Next best score in for a while was a 77 by Alan Todd of the home club. Alan playing off 9 handicap, returned an excellent 68 net which was the best net score on the day and the 4th best gross score.
It looked like Kenny had the title in the bag as other potential winners fell by the wayside, until Keith Moore of St Ives, winner in 2018, playing in the last group came in with 73 to tie with the leader.
Keith, who started his round at the 10th, holed his 2nd shot to the 1st for an eagle 2 and then finished with an excellent birdie on his last hole to force a play-off.
The play-off was sudden death over holes 10, 11, 15 and 18. The 10th was halved in pars and good tee shots at the tight 11th hole left both players in good positions for their shots to the green.
Kenny hit a great 8 iron to eight feet whereas Keith just missed the green and unfortunately was unable to get down in two for his par. This left Kenny with a simple 2 putt to win his first Seniors title.
He now goes on to represent the County at the England Golf Champion of Champions event at Woodhall Spa in September.
The Super Seniors Cup for the 65 to 69 age group was won by Robert Atwood of the Gog Magog Golf Club with a gross 81, after a card play-off with last year’s winner Steve Plumb of Saffron Walden, and Ken Chatteris of the home club.
The Masters Trophy for the over 70’s age group was won for the 3rd year running by Neil Hughes with the same score.
Other prize winners were:-
3rd gross Kevin Diss of Gog Magog 77
4th gross Alan Todd of Ely City 77
5th gross Terry Ryan of Ely City 78
2nd net Ken Chatteris of Ely City 70
3rd net William Harrison of Ely City 71
The top 16 scratch scores now go into an automatic draw to play for a new Trophy kindly donated by past champion Jeremy Baldwin, all matches to be played at the Ely City Golf Club.
Many thanks must go to Ely City club manager Anthony Roberts and his team for the wonderful food enjoyed by all and the first class service on the day.
Next year’s championship will be held on the Gog Magog Old Course on the 17th July 2023.