regulation par. A slightly pulled drive from Dave at the 12th and an excellent pitch for a conceded
birdie from Angus saw him back in front. The toing and froing continued at the 13th where
David found the green and had 20ft left for eagle, Angus pitching over the bunker to have a 10ft
birdie try. 2 putts were required by both and the match was again level. The exhibition of driving
continued on the tough 14th, followed by 2 nice irons to the green. Angus came up just short
on the fringe and chipped to about 4ft. David burned the edge from 20ft before Angus cleaned
up for the half. David hit front again at the par 3 15th with a nice 8 ft birdie putt after Angus just
missed from a bit further out. Both players tried driving the 16th, a short par 4. Angus was pin
high left, David just running through into the semi rough behind the green. Both played excellent
chip shots but again Angus’s putt slipped past and David holed a curling putt to be 2up with 2
to play. David played safely to the fairway at the 17th, Angus being more aggressive and driving
over the corner. David then played a lovely iron to around 15 feet, followed by Angus playing to
around 30 ft. Again Angus’s putt slipped past and David had won his 3rd County Championship.
Well done to both on a great final and congratulations to David Corben the Surrey County
Champion for 2019.
The 36-hole qualifying day on Friday is also the Club Challenge Cup competition, any Club
with three players entered into the Amateur Championship can participate. The teams of three
are named before the players start the morning round with both scores from all three players
counting and lowest aggregate score winning. This year’s Club Challenge Cup winners were West
Hill, who retain the cup they won last year. West Hill scores were: Tommy Noel 76 & 72, Lawrence
Courtney 73 & 73 and Max O’Hagan 72 & 70 for a 436 total. West Hill now go on to play in the
English Champion Club Tournament at Romford GC in September. Addington Palace took 2nd
with 439, in 3rd were Reigate Hill with 448.
Our thanks must go to everyone at Purley Downs Golf Club who looked after everyone so well
for the three days, and a special mention must go to Richard and his greens staff, the course was
in awesome condition with greens that were simply brilliant.
Finally, a big thank you to all the volunteers who put in such a huge amount of work into helping
run the event and ensuring its success.
Mid-Age Championship
Croham Hurst Golf Club was the venue hosting this year’s Mid-Age Championships which
comprises of an individual and a team competition. The format is 36 holes medal for the
individual Championship and for the team event, two nominated players from the same Club
have both their rounds to count towards the team score. The morning round saw some excellent
scoring with no less than 6 players shooting below par. Michael Piesse (Roehampton GC) shot a
four under 67 with Frankie Boylan (Woldingham GC) just one shot behind on 68 and last year’s
winner Jacob Aaholm (Reigate Hill GC) and Adrian Stewart (Tyrrells Wood GC) both on 69. After
an excellent and well-deserved lunch, the players went back out to battle for the title of Mid-Age
Champion. Again, the scores didn’t disappoint and this time 7 players in the afternoon came
back with scores below par, but it was Michael Piesse who was able to hold his nerve and return
a card one shot better than his morning round making him the overall winner with a magnificent
9 under par and a new course record! Second place couldn’t have been tighter between Jacob
Aaholm and Frankie Boylan who both returned scores of 138. Jacob just clinched second place
from Frankie on count back.
The Team event was won once again by Reigate Hill’s Jacob Aaholm & Ben Palmer with a
combined score of 283, four better than their combined score last year. Second place also went
to Reigate Hill with the team of Mike Ducker and James Molyneux on 297 points and in third
place Frankie Boylan and Michael Oxlade on 305.
Our thanks to Croham Hurst Golf Club for hosting the Championship and making everyone feel
so welcome and presenting the course in such good condition, all the players really enjoyed their
day. Our extended thanks go to Chris Allbut, Chairman of Croham Hurst Golf Club and Ian Snell,
Past Captain and President who very kindly made the presentations.
Finally, many congratulations to Michael Piesse the 2019 Surrey County Mid-Age Champion and
new course record holder.
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