Kibworth Golf Club (Leicestershire & Rutland) qualified for their first ever Men’s Champion Club event in June, but they went one better by winning the national event on Sunday, as they triumphed by just a single shot at Ealing Golf Club in West London.
Ollie Lewis, Richard Wale and Jamie Watson shot a combined +10 over the course of the two-day event to edge Castle Royle trio Alfie Forisky, Nick Scrutton and Tom Wilde.
Lewis’ 69 and Wale’s 67 helped give them a one-shot lead at the end of day one, with both eagling the 7th hole thanks to 200-yard shots into the green and holing putts. Wale’s front-nine 30 aided his round which included six birdies to add to the eagle, while Lewis enjoyed four to add to his eagle. But on the second day, a combined 12-over front-nine saw them slip down the leaderboard.
A sublime back-nine from all three players, however, saw them fire a combined -2, with Lewis adding another crucial eagle, Wale driving just shy of the 17th before chipping close for birdie, and greenkeeper Watson making a fantastic up-and-down on the 18th.
What followed was a nervous wait, as Lewis admitted: “We were an hour or so ahead of Castle Royle, so it looked like we were way behind on the leaderboard but they had a lot of holes to play. Just to take our minds off things, we were playing snooker while we were waiting for the last groups to come in. We were always checking the scores, but I kept telling the others that I knew we were still in it. The wind was tough on the second day and luckily for us it went in our favour.”
Lewis, who plays golf full-time and is looking to turn professional next year, explained how they qualified for the tournament largely thanks to Wale having one of the tournaments of his life.
Lewis added: “We got there thanks to a magnificent -10 score for Rich in our County Championships. Jamie was -2 under for the two rounds and I was level-par, so as a team we shot -12 to win by eight shots. It was the first time the club has ever won that and to do it by such a margin was pretty special.
“For us to then go and win the national event is pretty surreal. We have a very good team in the three of us and we didn’t go there expecting, we just went to do the best we could. The way all of us played the back-nine was important, especially Jamie who had difficulty on the front nine, but recovered really well. All those shots add up to the crucial score and that’s what won it.”
Rotherham GC were a further two shots back in third, while City of Newcastle and Spalding were four shots off the winners.