David is deserving of victory

IT is impossible for there to be a more popular winner than David Shacklady, who captured his first European Seniors Tour title at the Moscow Country Club on Sunday.

Ever since my time as an assistant pro at Mottram Hall, I have been friends with David, who has dominated the PGA North Region circuit for two decades, winning several Order of Merit titles and frequently playing in the PGA Championship at Wentworth.

We go back even longer – more than 25 years – and he is such a likeable and laidback guy he was bombarded with tweets and texts.

A final round 69 gave him a two-shot triumph at the VTB Russian Open. He finished on eight under par, having started the day two shots behind the overnight leader, Welshman Phillip Price.

David, 51, who is coached by Simon Edwards, the Windermere pro, took the outright lead after the front nine on Sunday thanks to three birdies going out before navigating the back nine in level par.

He has dedicated his win to John O’Connor, a friend and former colleague at Ormskirk Golf Club who recently passed away. David represents the nearby Mossock Hall club on tour.

There will be a lot of David’s friends in the north and beyond who will want to congratulate him.

If any of them are in the Hertfordshire area this weekend, the Seniors Tour – or the Staysure Tour as it is called now – is staging the Willow Senior Golf Classic at Hanbury Manor Marriott Hotel and Country Club, starting tomorrow and finishing on Sunday.

Moscow brought only David’s eighth Seniors tournament and he already had three top 20 finishes going into the event.

He said:“To get up there and stay up there and finish it off against class players like this, it’s unbelievable.”