Battrick's double whammy
In a nail-biting finish on the St Pierre course in Chepstow last week, PricewaterhouseCoopers' Huw Battrick forced his way to the top of the South West regional final leaderboard.
Battrick, who had crashed out at this stage of the NMB-Heller sponsored tournament for the last two years, held of stiff competition with an impressive 18 points on the back nine to finish with a relatively low winning score of 34 points.
In an impressive double whammy, Battrick also won the nearest the pin competition on the sixth, with a soft eight iron stroke dropping just seven feet from the pin – his slight touch perhaps offering an insight into the secret of his victory.
He said: ‘This has been a great day out, well organised and we have even enjoyed some great weather and conditions. I haven’t played here before but I really enjoyed the course. Now I’m looking forward to the final at The Belfry’.Hassam Suffraz finished runner-up with 31 points, while Steven Joseph with 30 completed the winning trio after a countback with David Chasemore, who had to settle for fourth place.
The real excitement came with the players hoping to pick up the fifth and sixth places – five players finished with 29 points. The countback had to be continued onto the front nine to separate Simon Knee and Nicholas Heynen in fifth and sixth places respectively.
The inclusion of Heynen in the qualifying group meant all three of the players who went out in the second group qualified, with Battrick and Chasemore also in that pack.
Meanwhile, Gilbert Lemon squeezed every ounce of effort into striking a sweet drive at the 437 yard 17th hole to win the longest drive competition with an estimated 310 yard hit.
The remaining regional finals take place at Hever on 22 June; Brocket Hall on 27 June and Forest of Arden on 28 June.