Barham makes his mark - again!

Benn Barham (Kings Hill) fired off a terrific six-under-par 66 around Pedham Place to win the Pedham Place BetterBall Pro-Am, the first event to be supported by Pentland Golf.

Repeating his recent sub-par performance at Deal, Barham left the 69s of Chris Gane, Mark Hillson (Tandridge) and Barham's colleague at King's Hill, Mark Trow, trailing in his wake.

As Barham explained, winning was the icing on the cake as he'd just become a father for the second time with the birth of a baby daughter.

"She was born last Saturday morning," he said, "and not surprisingly I hadn't touched a club until arriving for the Pro-Am! Anyway, I felt great and in the right frame of mind for a good day's golf."

Barham's foresight to play the course the week before meant he knew where to make birdies.

"I've always tried to be well prepared," he said, "and didn't want to let my amateur partner down, so I checked out the course to see how to play certain holes and make a score."

The second hole was a case in point, as Barham knew to cut off the corner with his drive, leaving him just a six iron that he hit to eight foot for a successful eagle putt.

His only bogey came at the short sixth where he under-clubbed and failed to get up and down for par. Annoyed at himself for not making a planned birdie at the par five eighth, Barham then fired off four of them in the next five holes and parred the remaining holes to sweep home in six-under-par.

"I wasn't hitting the ball that well," he said, "but I've learned how to get round a course and make a decent score when things aren't going the way you'd like. My short game was good and I made some tricky up and downs, and putts under 10 foot.

"I want to thank Pedham's PGA Professional and PGA Kent captain, Tim Milford, for making the event happen and also Pentland Golf for sponsoring their first event. They've got a big presence in Kent golf, and this will help increase their profile.

"Things are going really well for me at King's Hill too, and the coaching diary is filling up nicely. What's particularly nice is that I'm teaching all categories of golfers - I remember what it's like to be a junior off 36!

"For me winning here has capped a great week, and I'm really looking forward to playing in more PGA events in 2013."