Final round comeback for Brown

03/09/2021

Sedlescombe Golf Club’s, Daniel Brown, produced a five-under-par round of the day to secure the PGA Southern Professional Championship sponsored by CK Facilities Management Ltd by just a single stroke.

The penultimate CK Facilities Management PGA South Order of Merit event was staged at the newly revamped Chart Hills in Kent and, with the biggest prize fund so far on offer, including a £3,000 first prize on the line, it would be Brown who claimed the top spot, with his second round 67 enough to beat Christopher McDonnell (Golf at Goodwood) and Peter Appleyard (Sittingbourne Golf Centre) by just a single shot.

The victory moves Brown to fourth in the CK Facilities Management PGA South Order of Merit rankings, with McDonnell, now in third place, just 0.25 points ahead. Currently the duo of Guy Woodman (ProAgenda) and Lewis Atkinson remain well out in front by some 70 points.

After the first-round cut, which saw over 35 players make it through to the second round on one-over-par, it was Mark Brailey (Shirley Park) and Jordan Loft (Prince’s) who set the early pace, their four-under-par rounds of 68 giving them a one-shot lead at the top.

Teeing off an hour and 15 minutes before the leaders, Brown started the second round well, with three birdies over the first six holes catapulting him up the leaderboard, and, despite a bogey at the tough par-3 seventh, the 30-year-old closed his front nine out with back-to-back birdies at the eighth and ninth to get to four-under-par.

A bogey at the 11th was followed by consecutive birdies at the 12th and 13th for the former Chart Hills member, with his eighth birdie of the day at par-5 16th moving him to six-under-par for the tournament. Despite a closing bogey, Brown had set the target at five-under, with a wait in store for the 30-year-old.

First to challenge the total was McDonnell, with back-to-back birdies at the 17th and 18th meaning he would come up just one shot short. It would also be the same story for Appleyard who couldn’t find a birdie over the closing two holes to level things up at the top, the 43-year-old eventually finishing one shot back as well.

The PGA in England (South)’s Regional Manager, Sam Smith commented: “It was great to take PGA tournament golf back to Chart Hills as it’s such a fantastic venue and the course was in magnificent shape after all the recent fairway renovations.

It now means that all is to play for at the season finale in three weeks’ time at Paultons Golf Centre, for the PGA Southern Open Championship.”