Southport Coast Championship success for Whitmore

Whitmore claims Southport Coast Links Championship

Overall winner, Marston Lakes GC's Chris Whitmore, receives his prize from tournament organiser Sean Coyle

After a thrilling last round at Royal Birkdale GC, Chris Whitmore from Marston Lakes GC triumphed by one shot at the end of a fascinating week of golf to take the Southport Coast Links Championship for 2016.

Played over some of the area’s leading links courses and organised by Sean Coyle Golf Events, competitors experienced the full range of weather conditions over a challenging week which began at Formby Ladies GC.

A high scoring day saw Paul Molyneux (Hart Common GC) head the 102 competitors home with a Stableford Points score of 40 and book his place in Friday’s final at Royal Birkdale.

Southport and Ainsdale GC was the venue for day two but the blustery and windy conditions meant scoring was much lower, and in the conditions Tim Page’s winning score of 37 was remarkable.

Wednesday saw the championship move on to West Lancashire and with the weather at its most benign Keith Motion’s 40 saw him through to the final.

The fourth day featured Hillside GC, but the horrendous weather made playing golf a challenge for everyone and Robert Mottershead’s 36 stood out from the rest.

Action from the Southport Coast Links Championship

The four winners, plus the best 20 from the rest of the field, headed off to Royal Birkdale GC for the grand final with the qualifiers list surprisingly led by Chris Whitmore, who held the highest aggregate score over the four rounds despite not having won any of them!

Andre Hogan’s 30 made him the first leader in the clubhouse, but he was overtaken by Carl Derbyshire and John Williams on 32.

As early leader Howard Domney fell away, it was left to Whitmore in the final group to claim the prize by one shot with a bogey on the last green.

The team tournament that ran alongside the main competition for the middle three days was won by Domney, Jamie Segar, Simon Stott and Steve Rafsha, while there were also prizes each day for the golfer ‘nearest to the pin’.

Competitors expressed themselves delighted with the Championship and many have also pledged to return for next year’s competiton, so much so that one-third of the places have already been taken.

Full details of next year’s event can be found at www. southportcoastchampionship.co.uk

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