Chris gains advantage with Virgin win

Chris Gane (Lefthandedgolf@Silvermere) won the 2014 Virgin Atlantic PGA Southern Open Championship in spectacular style at the Drift GC.

After shooting a pair of 67s on the final day for a 13-under-par total of 206, he needed the aid of a play-off to see off the twin threat of 2013 PGA Cup players David Callaway (Foxhills) and Benn Barham (PGolf Coaching@Pedham).

At the first play-off hole Gane (above) splashed out to 18 inches to make a terrific birdie and deny the star duo.

Gane’s stellar performance earned him £2,500, one of the biggest pay cheques of the season, while Barham and Callaway took home £1,375 each.

The Silvermere pro only made the final round after shooting birdies at the 16^th and 17^th to make the cut with a 72. Callaway shot a class-leading 66 to take the first round lead, adding a 70 on the morning of the final day. Barham shot 70 to qualify comfortably and then added a terrific seven-under-par 66 to share the lead with Callaway.

Six shots off the lead, Gane made a 20 foot birdie on the second green and notched up another six birdies on his way to a second round 67.

In the final round Gane had reached nine-under by the turn, but then found another gear at the 14^th, scoring four birdies on the trot to shoot another six-under-par 67 and set a 13-under-par target for Callaway and Barham.

An hour behind Gane, Barham claimed a birdie at the last to card 70 and join Gane as clubhouse leader. Callaway joined them after matching Barham’s score, gamely holing from 10 feet at the last to get into the play off after dropping a shot up the 17^th.

The three way play-off was equally dramatic. After smashing a huge drive down the par five 18^th to leave himself a 212-yard downhill downwind shot to the green with a five iron, Gane bunkered it on the right of the green, but as fortune would have it, he’d had the same shot in the Pro-Am and knew he only had to splash it out and let it roll down to the hole.

While Callaway nearly pitched in for a birdie, and Barham shaved the hole for his, Gane played a superb bunker shot to 18 inches and holed out in front of an admiring crowd of his fellow professionals to claim his third title in three events.

 As he commented: “A dramatic day, and I’m delighted my good form for the last two events stayed with me for this one over all three rounds. Things are looking good at the moment for a decent placing in the VALR PGA South Order of Merit, and that’s what I’ll be focusing on for the rest of the season.”

Ben Beagley’s team at the Drift came in for high praise for the course and its excellent greens, a magnificent achievement courtesy of Head Green keeper Mark Ogden and his greenkeeping team, given that a few days earlier three days of rain and flooding greens nearly cancelled the event.

The next Order of Merit event is the PGA Surrey Open at Kingswood July 30-31.