Ayden Triumphs at Cumberwell Park

This year’s Men’s County Championship, held at Cumberwell Park had everything – a fantastic, brutally long course, torrential rain, wind, sun and a titanic battle between battle-hardened veterans and the cream of the County Junior talent pathway.

It was obvious from the early scores coming in that this was not going to be a birdie fest and the early lead was held by Marlborough’s Dave Bauer with a very creditable 74. This was matched by seven other players and appeared to be the mark until the last few groups, when it was surpassed by Jaime Davis (73, Cumberwell Park), Guy Drayton (72 Wrag Barn) and former Champion Tom Law (72 Broome Manor).

Quickly following these were Tom Scullion (Upavon), defending Champion Garry Slade and Ellis Bright (both Cumberwell) with even par 71.

However, the halfway lead was held by Salisbury & South Wilts Junior Cameron who returned five birdies in his two under 69. This was brilliant round in tough conditions, but with fifteen players within five shots of the lead it was obviously going to be a very close-run thing.

And so, to the afternoon round. Unfortunately, Cameron Young could not follow up his excellent morning round with another, but a solid 75 saw him finish tied fifth with Hamptworth’s Finlay Charles on 144. Tom Scullion carded a one over 72 to finish tied third with Guy Drayton (71) on 143, and then the scene was set for the denouement between Tidworth’s young pretender, Ayden Knight, and the Champion, Garry Slade.

Rumours had been circulating in the clubhouse for some time that Ayden was playing well, and this proved to be the case as he returned an almost blemish free card containing five birdies and one bogey (67). So, all (??) Garry had to do was shoot a round of 70, and there would be a playoff. However, a bogey on the last cost him dear and he finished one shot back on 142.

Huge congratulations to Ayden Knight on his victory, made even more creditable as he is only 15 years old! More excitingly he has also been named by County Captain Ali James in his squad for South West Week which takes place at Minchinhampton Golf Club, commencing on the 5th of June. The future of Wiltshire Golf is looking bright, as 6 of the top 11 players were under 18 years old. Full results can be found on the front page of the website under Competition Results.

As a County we would like to offer a massive thank you to the James family and all the staff and members at Cumberwell Park. The course was wonderful, catering brilliant and the welcome warm. Also, we could not do any of this without our volunteers – Referees Paul Berry, Nigel Duda, and our Vice-President Linda Brown.

Our Competitions Manager Nick Chapman and our former President Jerry Gegg ran the scoring all day as efficiently as usual, and despite a couple of software and mechanical blips, the event was a tremendous success.

And so, on to Marlborough in 2023!

Return to News Page

Created by intelligentgolf version 10.1.2.