Cartwright wins by two strokes to retain trophy

COBY Cartwright (Cosby) won the Leicestershire and Rutland Golf Union Spring Tournament for the Robin Fraser Trophy for the second successive season.

It is also his third success in this 72-holes World Amateur Golf Ranking event, one of the toughest in the county calendar.

It was played over two days this year, with two rounds at Lingdale GC on the opening day, and the leading scorers going into the decisive final 36 holes at Cosby GC.

But scoring at the weekend was tough. It was very windy and quite cool on both days, especially on the second, which saw some soaring rounds.

Cartwright, pictured, had a 290 aggregate to win by two strokes from Richard Wale (The Leicestershire).

He emulated his success last year when the championship was decided at Market Harborough – but curtailed to only one round – with the final two at The Leicestershire.

Cartwright was also champion in 2015 at The Leicestershire and

Longcliffe GCs. He opened quietly with 75 at Lingdale on this occasion, but went into a three-way half-time lead on 144 after his two-under-par

69 in round two.

He went out in one-under-35, and came back in one-under-34, with two birdies in each half on his scorecard. They came at 2 and 8, 15 and the last.

Cartwright was tied after this session with Wale, who opened with 69-75 and Liam Plant (Cosby) with 73-71 returns. Steve Sansome (Birstall) was on 71-75146, two strokes behind.

After the third round Wale, who hit 74, moved into top spot on 218, with

Cartwright two behind after his 76. But the position changed as the climax came. Cartwright carded a one-under-70 over his home track to move into the winner’s circle. He went out in level par and came back in one-under with a birdie on the 13th hole.

Wale took another 74 for 292 and was forced to settle for second. County champion and senior titleholder last season Sansome (Birstall) who hit 77-75 at Cosby, finished on 298, tied with county captain James Billingham, a home club member, with his 76-71-75-76 returns over the two courses.

They were third and fourth respectively on local rule.

Presentations to the winners were made by county president Phil Askew (Rothley Park), who congratulated all the competitors on their dedication and enthusiasm on a tough weekend of golfing action.

Leading scorers: 290 Coby Cartwright (Cosby) 75-69-76-70

292 Richard Wale (The Leicestershire) 69-75-74-74, 298 Steve Sansome (Birstall) 71-75-77-75, James Billingham (Cosby) 76-71-75-76,

302 Chris Brook (Hinckley) 80-71-7477, 305 Liam Plant (Cosby) 73-71-8576, 307 Will Plant (Cosby) 79-74-81-73, 309 Jay Sheridan (Lutterworth), 75-79-80-75, Arshad Tarmahomed (Scraptoft) 74-80-77-78, 310 Luke Burrows (Cosby) 78-76-79-77, 311 Jake Dandy (Charnwood Forest) 72-85-7777, Tom Roberts (Rothley Park) 74-7881-78.

The award for day one at Lingdale went to host club member Alex Jarvis 78-72-150 and for day two at Cosby to Jack Merry (Birstall) 78-75153.