Teacher Takes Title

Beverley teacher Ian Goldie has netted top slot in the inaugural year of an East Riding golf club’s champion of champions tournament sponsored by a local charity.

Ian (44) won the prestigious Order of Merit title at Beverley Golf Club, the first season-long event in its 123 year history, after a hard fought contest spread across 18 competitions during the summer.

The 5-handicapper from Nornabel Drive, consistently out-performed his rivals to scoop the title. He also won £100 out of a record-breaking prize fund of £480 shared by a total of 14 players.

Ian, who teaches adults with learning difficulties and disabilities at the East Riding College in Beverley, said: “I am honoured to be the first winner of the Order of Merit – it was my goal right from the outset, to prove to myself I could play consistently well across a number of major tournaments.”

A total of 163 members at Yorkshire’s oldest golf club took part in the tournament where players recorded up to 10 of their best scores from 18 of the year’s major weekend competitions in a format similar to the professionals at the FedEx Cup in America and the Race to Dubai in Europe.

The tournament was sponsored by Beverley-based charity the Stiff Person Syndrome Support Group and Charity. Its founder, Liz Blows, said: ”This has proved an absolutely fantastic event and the charity is hugely grateful to the club and its members. We were all a bit unsure how it would be received so our target was to break even and hope for a bit of publicity to raise awareness for our cause.

“It turns out that we have not only raised desperately needed funds – £458 – from the generosity of members, but also gained a tremendous amount of essential awareness from extensive media coverage.”

Champion Ian Goldie echoed her sentiments: “It’s really good that we’ve raised money for a worthwhile local charity and at the same time enjoyed a fantastic new competition.”

Club captain Brendan O’Connor, who finished joint third, was fulsome in his praise for the victor: “Ian’s a class act – he played superbly well time and time again and, despite our best efforts, we were never able to catch him. He’s the champion – but next year we’ll all be gunning for him!”

The inaugural competition has proved so successful the club and the charity have agreed sponsorship in 2013. The club is also considering expanding the OoM concept to include mid-week competitions, ladies and juniors.

Brendan said: “This has been very much a test season to see how members responded to a very different tournament concept to the usual one-off format of all other competitions. It has gone so well, I am optimistic for the future and an expansion by the club of the OoM format to include everyone.”

The OoM tournament appears to have boosted competition at the club with the average number of entries to all events 25% greater than last year, despite the summer’s poor weather.

Simon Goff, who joined the Westwood club from Driffield this year, saw his handicap tumble from 12 to 8 to secure the runner-up slot, while another former Driffield player, Jamie Philipson, also enjoyed his switch to Beverley by taking joint third place alongside club captain Brendan O’Connor.

RESULTS

Based on 18 weekend medal and stableford strokeplay competitions taking place between April and October.

Overall Points Prize

Ian Goldie 749 £100
Simon Goff 703 £75
Brendan O’Connor 692 £47.50
Jamie Philipson 692 £47.50
Mike Helyard 663 £30
Age Bandings
(competitors split equally into groups)

47 and Under

Adrian Hartley 663 £30
Mathew Peacock 641 £20
Michael Fletcher 634 £10

48-56

Mark Waterson 672 £30
Phil Worthington 623 £20
Shaun Atkinson 576 £10

Over 57

Tony Brown 639 £30
Dave Weatherall 598 £20
Paul Barnett 551 £10