Cort claims Order of Merit title

Former European Ryder Cup player Paul Broadhurst won the battle but Matt Cort the war as a sudden death play-off was needed to settle the Midlands Professionals’ Championship at Shifnal.

Broadhurst, who played in the ‘War on the Shore’ at Kiawah Island in 1991, and Cort, last year’s winner of The PGA in England (Midlands) Order of Merit, could not be separated after two rounds of the £5,000 tournament.

Both had negotiated the par-71 Shropshire course in 13-under, posting seven-under for first round before completing the second in six-under.

But they were finally separated at the first play-off hole, the par-three 10^th, although, even then, there was an uncanny similarity about their tee shots.

Cort, a PGA Professional at Rothley Court Golf Club, Leicestershire, deposited his left of the green but pin high.

Broadhurst, who is attached to Northants County Golf Club, was even more wayward, his falling well short and wide of the target.

He responded by leaving his second six feet from the pin and Cort, rising to the challenge, went even closer.

However, Cort’s hopes of keeping in contention to claim the £800 cheque on offer to the winner of England’s oldest tournament for professionals were ruined when he over-cooked his par putt after Broadhurst had holed his.

Initially disappointed, Cort was able to console himself with the knowledge he had won the Order of Merit for the second successive season and qualified for the Titleist-sponsored PGA Play-Offs in Turkey at the end of November.

A top ten finish there will earn him a place in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth next May as well as several other high-profile events on the European and Challenge Tours

While wanting to excel at the PGA Sultan Course at Antalya, Cort hopes to have already qualified for Wentworth, not to mention the European Tour’s 2015 schedule by then.

He will attempt to book his place on the European Tour via Q School and said: “That begins next week and I’m happy with the way I’m playing. I’ve had a good season and am delighted to have won the Order of Merit again.”

Broadhurst, meanwhile, plans to spend the winter working on his game in readiness for when he turns 50 in August and becomes eligible to play on the European Seniors Tour.

Victory at Shifnal was his second Order of Merit triumph of the season and he was quick to praise the standard of the course and the work that had been done to ensure it remained in top condition despite having more than 60 golfers negotiate it twice in one day.

“The course was in excellent condition,” he said. ‘It’s not very often you play two rounds of golf in a day and have the greens mowed before each one.”

Broadhurst’s victory elevated him to fourth place in the Order of Merit, just seven-and-a-half points adrift of Andrew Willey of Bulwell Forest Golf Club who, along with second-placed Kedleston Park’s Ian Walley, has qualified for the PGA Play-Offs.

Meanwhile, as well as earning high praise for the standard of its course and the way it hosted the tournament, Shifinal Golf Club saw its course record broken by Andrew Cheese in the pro-am that preceded the Midlands Professionals’ Championship.

Cheese, a PGA pro at Sutton Coldfield Golf Club, posted a blemish-free nine-under-par round of 62 that featured two eagles and five birdies.