County win for on-form Gallagher

Mike Gallagher claimed a well-earned victory as Northants County Golf Club hosted the latest leg of the county's winter series circuit.

The players were greeted by sunny conditions and a course which was in good order with firm fast running fairways and greens, and the scores reflected this with four players under par and a cluster of players within three shots.

Farthingstone’s Gallagher returned a solid two-under-par 68 to edge out Simon Lilly (Wellingborough) and Simon Callender (John Reay Golf Centre) by a single shot.

Andy Thorpe from Peterborough Milton finished third with a level-par 70. Home professional Tim Rouse and Dan Wood (Brampton Heath) both shot 71 to complete the prize winners.

In the team event Stuart Kier (Kingsthorpe) marked his return to the county by leading his golfers to a 17-under-par score of 123 to prevail by just one shot from home professional Adam Myers’ team.

The other highlight of the day was the fact that two players in the field had a hole-in-one, former County Champion Marc Davis playing in Simon Lilly's team holed his tee shot at the third and Mike Kingswood from Richard Mudge's team followed him in at the 15th.

In the overall winter series Order of Merit standings Gallagher's win saw him reach the top of the table with Carl Sainsbury (Brampton Heath) just three points behind in second.