Ford and Hillson share Swinley laurels

In spite of the wind and rain, Matt Ford (C+K Group) and Mark Hillson (Tandridge, above) tied with level-par rounds to win the latest Winter Series event at Swinley Forest GC.

Hillson now has three of these events to his credit, having won previously at Hankley and Prince’s, and is way out in front in the 2013-2014 Titleist & FootJoy Winter Series Order of Merit.

Having both reached the 18^th tee at Swinley in one-over-par, Ford and then Hillson made terrific birdies at Swinley’s last hole to push the pack into second place. A beneficiary of Hillson’s last-hole charge was runner-up Matthew Rice who won the leading Assistant’s prize of the valuable Titleist & FootJoy ball, glove and shoe contract.

Delighted with his continuing good form, Hillson commented: “This winter, despite the terrible weather reducing the opportunities to play, I’ve still managed to do enough practice to keep the swing sharp. Swinley was in great shape all things considered and the greens were a bit friendlier as the rain was keeping their speed a little slower.”

Ford was happy with things generally, having picked up a useful third spot in the recent Sunshine Pro-Am in Portugal. He said: “I had a good 2013, and I’m determined to have an even better 2014.

“Even in this sort of weather Swinley’s a good test at this time of the year to check the swing’s in shape.”

Ford and Hillson’s level-par performances edged out the group on one-over-par comprising Matthew Rice (Purley Downs), Craig Sutherland (Cherry Lodge), Tim Spence (The Golf College), and Benn Barham (Kings Hill) to snatch the purse at Swinley.

That said, after going out in three-under-par and then adding another birdie at the 10^th to go four-under, Sutherland looked in great shape. Back to one-under after dropping three shots on the 11^th and 12^th holes, Sutherland made one more birdie on the 14^th to be in command until a triple bogey at the 18^th put him back in the pack on one-over-par.

The final two events in the 2013-2014 Titleist & FootJoy Winter Series will take place at The London GC on 3^rd March and the Titleist & FootJoy Assistants and Trainees BetterBall Pro-Am at Farnham in April.