Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Second-day 66 earns top trophy
Canterbury GC
Jez Iddenden produced a performance of outstanding quality at the weekend to secure Canterbury Golf Club’s premier trophy, the Pilgrims Challenge Cup.
One- handicap Iddenden launched his bid for the title with a three-under-par 69 on Saturday but saved his best for the following day when he made four birdies and 14 pars to post a net 66.
That earned him a two-shot victory over two-handicap John Coupe, with Andy Wigg, playing off five, one stroke further back in third place.
Iddenden, 28, who earlier in the year won the Brook Rose Bowl and the Henry Knight Salver, found himself in seventh place before the start of the second round, trailing overnight leader Michael Cunningham (h9) by three strokes. But of those ahead of him at halfway, only playing partner Coupe signed for a subpar score the following day although he never managed to get close enough to put Iddenden under pressure.
Cunningham fell out of contention with a 75, while Wigg was unable to fully repair the damage of a double-bogey at the 11th, his second hole.
And although seven-handicap Dan Pilbeam matched Iddenden’s closing 66, his first-round 73 had left him with too much to do and he had to settle for fourth overall.
The Pilgrims was restricted to players with handicaps of 10 or less but two other competitions were taking place simultaneously, the Rogerson Cup, for handicaps of 11 to 16, and the Redford Trophy, for handicaps of 17 and over.
The Rogerson produced a comfortable victory for 13-handicap Richard Scott, the only player in that competition to register two sub-par scores.
He was joint leader overnight with 14-handicap Phil Johnson after both men shot net 67s, Scott making three birdies and Johnson two.
But next day, 62-year-old Scott produced another consistent performance and avoided any catastrophes to card a twounder 69, while nearest rival Johnson slipped back with a net 73.
That left Scott three strokes clear of 12- handicap Ken Williamson, who added a superb 66 to his first-round 73. Johnson finished third, one stroke behind Williamson and alongside 15-handicap John Winthrop.
Only one player shot below par in the Redford and for a long time, 19-year-old Connor Bundock looked like holding on to a lead established through his first-day 68.
Despite struggling in round two and signing for a 79, the 18- handicapper was leading for most of the day, only to be pushed back into fourth place, first by Brian Whybrow (h20) on countback and then by eventual winner Barrie Kelson and by Ken Sampson, who were among the last to finish.
Nineteen-handicap Sampson signed for the day’s best score of 64 to finish runner-up behind former club captain Kelson (h19), whose rounds of 72 and 74 saw him home by a single shot. Leading scores Pilgrims Cup: 135 J Iddenden (handicap 1) 69 66; 137 J Coupe (h2) 68 69; 138 A Wigg (h5) 69 69; 139 D Pilbeam (h7) 73 66; 140 D Danton (h1) 72 68; 141 D O’donoghue (h9) 74 67, A Grove (h9) 74 67, R Beer (h7) 70 71, G Whyte (h10) 68 73, L Kirkham (h7) 67 74, M Cunningham 66 75; 144 C Gellatly (h5) 67 77; 145 M Lambton (h7) 72 73, T O’reilly (h5) 71 74; 146 S White (h5) 71 75; 12 other scores. Rogerson Cup: 136 R Scott (h13) 67 69; 139 K Williamson (h12) 73 66; 140 J Winthrop (h15) 68 72, Philip Johnson (h14) 67 73; 142 A Williamson (h15) 72 70; 143 S Plews (h13) 72 71; 144 P Soutan (h14) 72 72. B Hart (h13) 71 73; 146 C Shaxted (h13) 75 71, P Stewart (h12) 74 72, I Munday (h11) 71 75; 147 T Place (h12) 75 72; 148 K Elliott (h12) 75 73; 149 S Eeles (h11) 79 70, N Hylands (h13) 72 77; 23 other scores. Redford Trophy: 146 B Kelson (h19) 72 74; 147 K Sampson (h19) 83 64, B Whybrow (h20) 75 72, C Bundock (h19) 68 79; 148 I Cooper (h22) 71 77; 151 K Nicholls (h18) 75 76; 155 D Soutar (h20) 81 74; 156 C Jamieson 81 75; 10 other scores.