Four out of four for birthday boy

Chris Gane’s remarkable run of winning form continues as he celebrated his 40th birthday with yet another impressive performance at the West Surrey Pro-Am.

Shooting a two-under-par 69, Gane (Lefthandedgolf@Silvermere) added a further £1,000 to his recent winnings and can bask in the fact that he is 23-under-par for the last six rounds he’s played in the heat of competition.

Gane edged out the trio of Kieran Staunton (Woodcote Park), Paul Nessling (Cooden Beach) and Martin Woodbridge (Bearwood Lakes), all of whom carded 70s to share second place.

On a day when the wind made scoring challenging, Gane produced no less than five birdies on his way to his fourth victory, while three dropped shots proved that conditions weren’t easy.

Gane explained the situation, “With the risk of rain the pins had been placed on the high points of the greens. There was a brief shower, but the wind for the first 10 holes - which are the more difficult ones - was just a gentle breeze, and I got through them on two-under-par.

“Then quite suddenly it turned into a two or three club wind, but I was now playing the easier holes and I made a birdie at the 13th, and while I dropped shots at the 14th and 15th with a three putt and a bunkered drive, I splashed out to 18 inches at the par five 18th – just like the play-off at the Drift – to make one more birdie. So I got a bit lucky really, as other players were having to deal with the difficult holes in a much stronger wind.

Another factor is Gane’s putting, as he commented: “I’ve always been good at the six to 20 footers and I’m a good lag putter when it comes to the longer ones, but you only need two or three of those to drop and your round turns from all right to really good. That’s what happened at the Drift and today.

“Confidence is a funny thing, but at the moment I’m on a wave. It’ll hit the beach soon enough, but in the meanwhile I’m enjoying the ride for as long as it lasts.”