Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Kirkham pulls out all the stops
GOLF
Less than a year after joining Canterbury Golf Club, 21-year-old Liam Kirkham has picked up a major prize with victory in the Jack Snell Trophy.
The apprentice plumber from Sturry, a Canterbury member for 10 months, shot a net 65 off his handicap of 19 on Sunday to claim a two-stroke triumph over runner-up Chas Jones.
A powerful striker, Kirkham relied on a deft touch on and around the green to register his best-ever score of 84 gross.
He said: “I putted particularly well and chipped close on a number of occasions. But it was my putting that pleased me most.”
Kirkham started from the 10th tee and negotiated the tough opening loop without drama, dropping only three shots in his first five holes.
But all that good work was tarnished by six dropped shots on the four holes to the turn, including double-bogeys at the 15th and 17th.
Another double at the first brought Kirkham back to level-par on handicap and that could, quite easily, have been the precursor to a respectable but unremarkable score.
However, after a bogey four at the second, the sporting all- rounder followed his long drive at the third with a pitching wedge to six inches for birdie.
Bogeys at the next two holes were followed by a par at the sixth, before a seven-foot putt for birdie found the cup at the seventh.
A par at the eighth put Kirkham well in credit but his tee-shot at the ninth disappeared into the trees to the right of the fairway.
After playing a provisional, Kirkham found his original ball, played out safely and settled for a conservative six to round off a splendid performance.
Then came the agonising wait for the rest of the field to register their scores.
Three net 68s – for George Whyte, John Macdonald and Anthony Dance – were already in and, as the morning rounds drew to a close, Scott Pilbeam came in with a fourth 68 and then 18-handicap Jones with a 67.
None of the nine afternoon starters could get closer than five strokes of Kirkham and victory was his.
Runner-up Jones’s round included eight pars but a triple-bogey at 15 and doubles at the third and 10th proved costly. Of the four players tied on 68, countback for third place went to the final six holes and saw 16-handicap Pilbeam get the verdict from eighthandicap Whyte, with the previous week’s winner, Dance (h8), fifth and Macdonald (h3), who eagled the par-five seventh, in sixth spot. Leading scores: 65 L Kirkham (h19); 67 C Jones (h18); 68 S Pilbeam (h16), G Whyte (h8), A Dance (h8), J Macdonald (h3); 69 Peter Johnson (h6), J Dorries (h17); 70 G Lee (h20), T Wenham (h9), M Bidwell (h6), G Tottman (h8), S Smallman (h9), R Askham (h7), T Place (h13); 71 L Elmer (h9), I Munday (h9), B Whyte (h13), S Goodfellow (h8), P Blake (h11). 47 others.
Marcella Webb topped the field in Canterbury Ladies aggregated August Stableford.
The 22-handicapper scored 43 points to win by two from Pat Askham, playing off 27, with Joy Flynn (h15) taking third on countback ahead of Sheila Cairns with both players carding 40 overs.
Carole Gowland was fifth on 39 points, Sarah Wetherall a point back in sixth and Val Binns seventh on countback.
Jane Jones was eighth, Anne Ghazi ninth and Judy Gray made up the top-10.
The Ladies Drawn 1/2/3 Competition was made up of teams of three, one low handicap, one medium handicap and one high handicap player. One score from the first hole, two from the second and all three from the third were required.
A Kingston, P Askham and D Whiting claimed victory with 83 points, one clear of J Gray, J Reed and A White.