Craig’s birdie blitz proves pivotal

Clevedon Golf Club head pro Ryan Crowley (right) toasted amateur partner Craig Manson after he rattled in six birdies to help secure victory in the Lombard Trophy regional final at Burnham & Berrow Golf Club.

But the pair, who were first out, had to wait all day before confirmation of their win which earns them a place in the £80,000 grand final at Gleneagles’ PGA Centenary Course on September 1-2.

They carded a seven-under-par 64 which was matched later in the day by West Wilt duo Lawrence Wilkin and Dirk Pinnell but the Clevedon duo won on countback.

For five handicapper Manson, aged 38, the final showpiece at the famous Ryder Cup venue is set to be a real family affair.

“Most of my family are from the Edinburgh area so a lot of my relatives will be coming to watch the final,” he said.

“As soon as we’d won, my phone didn’t stop pinging with texts asking when it was.”

Manson, a plumbing lecturer at a college in Bristol, admitted he needed to stay focused to make sure he and Crowley did enough to win.

“Ryan’s very experienced and he told me that we’d be in contention if we could just nick a few birdies here and there,” he said.

“And after that it just seemed like my putter was on fire! I made six birdies, two of which were net eagles.

“But I play for Clevedon in the Bristol & District League so I come up against people playing off scratch a lot so maybe I had the right approach from that instead of getting the jitters. I also have a lesson once a month to cut out any bad habits.

“It was a long wait though, we were out at 7.30 and I went home and did the school run before coming back to Burnham later. I hoped we’d done enough and then Ryan phoned to tell me I had.

“The course was fantastic and it was great to play there but I really fancy going up to Gleneagles now.”

Crowley admitted he did not wait around at Burnham to find out his fate.

“There was no point hanging around for hours waiting for the result so I went back to Clevedon and did some work,” he said.

“But I kept in touch online and knew what was happening. I felt we had posted a score that would be competitive and it was.”

Crowley, who took over at Clevedon in March, hailed his amateur partner for his contribution.

“Craig made six birdies. He was the one who did all the damage and he deserved to get to the final for that performance.”

Crowley is looking forward to treading in the footsteps of Europe’s Ryder Cup winners over the PGA Centenary Course at Gleneagles where they will be up against 15 other clubs in a 36-hole final.

“I’ve only seen the Ryder Cup played there but now we’ve got some planning to do to make sure we’re on form for the final.”