New Mills Golf Club - (01663) 743485

Derek Horsey Charity Competition - 2012

Report by Tom James

Sadly Phil Smallman and Tom James were knocked out in of the second round of this competition on Monday 18th June. Playing away against Rochdale Golf club the pair knew it was always going to be tough playing on a course neither of them had played before.

The Rochdale pairing of Dean Brackenbury, playing off 9 and Nigel Donnelly playing off 23 meant that Phil and Tom received 5 and 6 shots resepctively but Nigel took full advantage of his 11 shots none more so than on the par 3, SI 11 where despite Phil parring hole a par from Nigel meant a half just when Phil thought he had won the hole!

A missed putting opportunities on the 4th and Tom’s failure to use his shot advantage over one of the Rochdale guys on the long par 5 15th proved costly.

Birdies by Phil on the 11th and Tom on the 14th brought the new Mills pair back into contention and despite both players achieving par on the par 4, 17th Dean once again showed his composure and class and chipped in from a difficult position to halve the hole and secure the match 2 and 1.

Both New Mills golfers enjoyed the demanding course which was in immaculate condition and generally played well but a carefully chosen pairing from Rochdale meant a well deserved victory in the end for them.

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The first knock-out stage of the Derek Horsey Charity Competition was played on Friday 8th June and resulted in a hard fought but well earned victory, in difficult playing conditions, by 3 and 2, for Phil Smallman and Tom James against Norman Storer and Frank Cawood from Chapel-en-le-Frith Golf Club.

Having gone one down at the first, Phil and Tom recovered well to take a three hole lead coming to the eighth. However, a missed opportunity to go four up resulted in the New Mills pair having a slender two hole advantage at the turn.

A well holed putt by Tom on the 10th restored the three hole lead and then hard fought halves at the next three holes with both Phil and Tom gelling well saw us with a great advantage to seal the match at the fourteenth. However, this proved to be the only hole where both failed to deliver the goods and the deficit was reduced nervously to just two as we came to the fifteenth. A fine tee shot from Phil and an agonisingly close attempt at a birdie to wrap up the match resulted in yet another half and so the tension grew as we stood on a windswept 16th tee.

Both the New Mills guys kept their nerve and played safely onto the fairway and the match was finally sealed. The next round sees Phil and Tom visiting Rochdale Golf Club where the task will undoubtedly be no easier. Here's hoping for a good performance from the New Mills pairing...

Report from May 2012

The Derek Horsey Charity Competition is for Senior golfers in Greater Manchester, NW Derbyshire and NE Cheshire. Each club plays a qualifying competition and then the top two players represent their club in a knock out competition which this year (2012) involves 25 clubs. In view of the inclement weather, this year’s qualifying competition at New Mills was restricted to 13 holes and was played off 2/3 handicap. Despite the wind and rain 28 hardy seniors took part and raised a splendid £70 for the charity.

The winners, with an excellent net score of 45, were Phil Smallman and Tom James, with a net score of 50, narrowly beating Pete Christian for the second spot after a card play off. Phil and Tom now go forward to represent the club in the knock out stage with their first match being at home to the winners of the Chapel qualifying competition.