Eagles send O’Hanlon soaring

Two eagles on the back nine propelled Richard O'Hanlon - probably the busiest PGA golfer in the country - to his first West pro-am win of the season at Bovey Castle.

The St Kew professional is happy travelling up to 300 miles for events in the Midlands where he was once based and has won at Stourbridge and Northamptonshire County.

He finished runner up at Woodhall Spa in another Midlands pro-am before travelling to the impressive hotel course at Moretonhampstead staging the first West regional fixture for 14 years.

Two birdies and two bogeys on the front nine preceded a three at the 512-yard and a two at the 280-yard 14th when his 3-wood tee-shot finished four feet behind the hole. He has already made an albatross this season at Teign Valley.

O’Hanlon, who ended last season by winning at Exeter after his triumph in the Lombard Trophy at Gleneagles, was not troubled as much as the rest of the field by the swirling wind that limited sub-par rounds to just three.

Christian Vine (Woodbury Park) set the early pace and was four-under at one stage but then dropped two shots. Russell Berry (Professional Golf Europe) also produced a steady score of one-under 69 for third place.

Lee Corfield (Burnham and Berrow) was level alongside Max Billingsley (St Kew) who threatened to upstage his boss with a four-birdie start.

He added three more but five bogeys and a double were major setbacks.

Former Bovey Castle assistant Matthew Sandercock, now at Sunningdale, returned to lead Tim Greenslade, Dan Knight and Martin Jewel into first place in the team section on 83.

Vine followed on 80 with Dave Freeman, Ken Vine and Trevor Ford with Gary Milne (Exeter) and Ben Moore, Mark Wayne and Abby Turner third one further shot back.