Clayton lands a grand in dramatic play-off

Ben Clayton (Hindhead) grabbed a grand off of James Ablett (Lee-on-the-Solent), Nick Redfern (AIA Group), Rob Edwards (Lee-on-the-Solent), Alan Lovelace (Merrist Wood) and Callum Scott (Silvermere) in a terrific three-hole shootout at the Guildford Shootout Pro-Am.

Clayton, a new member of the coaching staff at The Golf College as well as head assistant at Hindhead, was delighted with his result, saying: “It’s an unusual yet fun format and it adds a lot of excitement to the event for the club and all those watching, which was around 200 people. James and Nick were very generous when they hit shots that took them out of contention, but it certainly made for a good day at the office for me!”

With a ‘par is your friend’ format for the 18-hole event, Clayton was one of the group of five players lying in second, having scored four-under-par and lying three shots behind the leader Ablett on seven-under-par. All six went forward into the three-hole play-off around Guildford’s first, 17^th and 18^th holes, which saw Ablett get to the 17^th and make bogey, and then Redfern drive out of bounds by two feet on the final hole, leaving The PGA in Surrey Captain, Clayton, to land the top prize of £1,000.

The Lee-on-the-Solent man’s consolation was £350 for his seven birdies round the tight downland course, and while the format allowed the PGA Professionals to go for everything, Ablett in fact had a flawless round and shot seven-under-par anyway.

He commented: “No hard feelings – we all knew the format from the start, and it was great to shoot another low score. Shame about the dropped shot at the 17^th, but well done Ben for getting through those three shoot out holes to win the money!”

Guildford GC’s PGA Professional, Andy Kirk added: “The club wanted to vary the Pro-Am format and this is one that definitely works from the club’s or sponsor’s perspective. Bringing in new ideas to golf is just what the game needs, especially if it increases the fun factor.”