Cort finishes as top pro in Winter Open
MATTHEW Cort (Beedles Lake) displayed some fine, late season form when a Winter Open tournament was contested at The Leicestershire GC.
The first half of the season of these scheduled tournaments was badly disrupted by the coronavirus lockdowns.
But the December one went ahead and Cort shot a 6-underpar 64 and notched 41 points for his efforts.
As an experienced professional, he has a plus one handicap in these events.
But he ended top pro and runner-up overall to amateur Neville Green (Cavendish), who has a 13 handicap and amassed 43 points.
At the end of the 2019 campaign at The Leicestershire, Cort won two in-a-row after hitting 6-under-64s on both occasions.
This time amateur Josh Hayes (Bloxwich) on 40 pts was third overall, tied with pro Simon Lilly (Staverton Park) fourth on countback and a playing pro Riyaz Ahmed of the home club, fifth, on 39 pts on local rule from another Bloxwich amateur, Ian Micklewright. Cort, below, said: “I was pleased to do well again. It is always good to play well on a course which is challenging and in good order.”
In the 2020 restricted Midland PGA Order of Merit, Cort, a past fivetime winner of the coveted award, ended second this year.
But that ensures his place in the season’s play-offs which will now take place next year.
This tournament will have a number of important awards at stake, including many in top competitions such as on the PGA European Tour and will also offer Cort the opportunity to take another step along the road to gaining selection for the PGA Cup against the United States of America club professionals for the third time.
Cort gained a total of 605 OOM points from the three counting regional competitions.
He was first in the delayed season opener, the Midland Open, at Oakmere Park GC after his 71-66-137 aggregate, was tied fourth in the Midland Professional Championship at Moseley GC where he carded 72-68-140, and in the final event – the Morley Hayes Championship – was joint 8th with his 70-71-141 total.
There were two other county professionals in the top ten of the 2020 Order of Merit. Michael Reed (Glen Gorse) with his haul of 476.67 pts was sixth and Craig Shave (Whetstone) on 441.67 pts finished in seventh place.
They will also be eligible to compete in the play-offs, so it promises to be an exciting start to the season for both men.
Reed’s highest position was tied fourth in the Midland Professional Championship while Shave finished joint second there.
Top spot in the OOM for 2020 went to Andrew Willey of Oakmere Park GC. He scored 690 points.
Cort said: “I was pleased to finish second in the Order of Merit, but, of course, will now look forward to doing well in the play-offs which offer so many opportunities throughout next season for me.
“They should have been completed during 2020, but, of course, it has been such a difficult year and they were postponed.
“I am sure we are all looking forward to getting the full schedule of the 2021 championships and tournaments and being in a better position to plan our own schedules as soon as possible.
“We just hope that it can be done in a much more comfortable environment than we have all experienced this year., both as golfers and individuals.”