Devon Senior Men's Team At England Golf SW Qualifier

South West Seniors

The Devon Senior side went to the South West Seniors Championship in good heart, the tournament being held over 2 days at the wonderful Ferndown Golf Club north and east of Bournemouth. The golf course was superbly presented, but sadly on the whole the team could not raise their games to match it.

The sole exception was Torquay’s Peter Bicknell, who led after day one with a superb 3-under par 68, a 2-shot margin over Dorset’s Gary Earl who had his team-mate Dave Barton and Wiltshire’s Mark Snape 1 further shot back.

The punishing weather conditions undoubtedly had an effect on day two as scores were generally higher, with the honourable exception of Dorset’s Tony Coles with an excellent level par 71. Earl followed his 70 with a sturdy 74 for a winning individual total of 144. Bicknell was in it and competitive all the way to the final hole where a misplaced bunker shot cost him a double bogey as he slipped to 78, a total of 146 and on countback alone in a superb 3rd place, losing out on back 18 to Snape

The event was played in sweltering conditions with temperatures hovering near/above the 30 degrees mark on both days and there’s no doubt this took its toll over the two days. That doesn’t truly excuse the below par play from the majority of the Devon contingent. Aside from Bicknell only newly crowned Champion Nick Draper (Teignmouth) performed solidly, winning the nett prize with 148.

Devon finished a fairly distant 3rd in the team qualifier for the English County Finals as Dorset ran out victorious with a 16-shot margin over Wiltshire, the winners having 3 players in the top 5 of the individual event, all home club players at Ferndown

In addition to Bicknell and Draper, the Devon representatives were Tim Aggett (Warren), Tony Allsopp (Tiverton), Chris Audin (Exminster) and Paul Vicary (Saunton), with playing reserves Colin Papworth (Teignmouth, Team Manager) and Dave Eva (Thurlestone) 

Next year the event will be held at Bristol and Clifton GC

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