County star wins classic encounter
BROWN EDGES TENSE SEMI-FINAL ON WAY TO CHAMPIONS SLOT
JOSH Brown overcame a tense semi-final on his way to claiming victory in the latest Griffin 16 and secured his place in the Champions of Champions.
The Yorkshire County player produced a classic with previous winner Terry Brook in the last four, with the match going right down to the wire.
Last time out, Brook fell foul of his handicap, -1, scoring 21 points first but losing out 21-20 to Jack Dyson.
And history repeated itself as he was again the first to score 21 points, but came out the wrong side of a entertaining 21-20 clash.
Brown then had an easier task of it in the final, claiming the title with a 21-11 victory over Howard Jones to take the £70 prize.
Earlier, Brown had seen off Michael Sweeney 21-15 in the first round and John Hodgson 21-10 on a green which played a little quicker than in previous weeks.
Jones reached the final despite missing a large part of the summer season with his leg in a brace and was unable to compete in the Griffin last season due to other commit- ments. Yet he defeated Dennis Tattersley to 18 in the first round and then, playing a consistent length on the difficult going, recorded one of his best wins on the green as he overcame James Martin 21-19 in another close match in the second round.
And he booked his place in his first final at The Griffin with a surprise 21-14 win over Mark Wood, who despite not being in the winners’ enclosure for a couple of years, knows how to get over the line having won a number of majors at the winter venue.
In the first round, Martin completed a 21-9 victory over Lower Hopton team-mate, while Wood knocked out one of the pre-competition favourites, Ray Whitwam, to 13.
Mark Allman also narrowly overcame Robert Hitchen 21-18.
Wood continued his form to record another comfortable win in round two, this time against Barry Gibson (12), while Brook kept up his impressive form so far this winter by reaching another semi-final.
He beat Mark Allman to 15 after knocking out greenkeeper Mark Richardson 21-12 in the first round.