Ed masters Minehead

Cirencester’s Ed Goodwin claimed his first solo victory of the season in the Gloucester and Somerset PGA winter series with a two-under-par round of 70 on a bitterly cold but dry and breezy day at Minehead and West Somerset.

He led home fellow Cheltenham resident Ross Langdon (Brickhampton Court) and Total Triumph Order of Merit Leader Giuseppe Licata by a stroke.

Goodwin enjoys links golf and is invariably features strongly at the Somerset seaside venues. He opened with two downwind birdies and added two more at the 11th and 14th holes.

The closing hole at Minehead is the hardest and his tee shot at the long par three rebounded off the nearby clubhouse wall across the green. Although he failed to get up and down he still won.

Langdon carded five birdies but a couple of lapses were costly. Although he moved up the Total Triumph Order of Merit into fifth, he shared with Licata (Chipping Sodbury) made three birdies but dropped shots at two par fives.

Enmore Park amateur Matt Kippen was fourth on level par 72, two better than George Ryall (Mendip Spring) and former Woodspring and Mendip pro Kevin Pitts. It was Pitts’ best finish of the season after his recent health battles.