Gowers and Raitt take the lions’ share

Robert Gowers (South Winchester) and Andy Raitt (St. George’s Hill) outshone the rest of the field, putting in stellar performances of five-under-par 67 to tie for victory in the Waterlooville Pro-Am.

The two stars took home their winners’ cheques, while David Callaway (Foxhills), who finished third, carded a four-under-par 68, enhanced by the added treat of a hole-in-one at the fourth.

Gowers was delighted with what he felt was his best round since the PGA Southern Open at the Drift in June, as he explained, “Unlike last year where I played and concentrated really well, I’ve been losing my focus pretty much every time I’ve played this year.

“This time I was in top gear for 17 holes, and then made a silly error on the 18th as it started to rain and wound up with a very expensive bogey six! But I did enough to tie for the win, and it’s given me something to work on for the rest of the season.

“My putting benefitted from a session with European Tour coach Mike Kanski at Formby Hall, and I’ll be playing in some Challenge Tour events to help sharpen my game up for 2015.”

Starting early, Gowers set the target with a beautifully constructed 17 holes where he opened with a birdie, and got to two-under-par at the turn. Birdies on the 10th, 13th and 14th followed to get him to five-under, and one more at the 17th put him well in front at the top of the leader board. Then at the par five 18th, he stumbled to make an untidy end to an otherwise terrific round of 67.

Raitt (above), who teed off in the afternoon, knew what he had to do, but was also just two-under-par at the turn. Then at the 13th a bogey set him back a shot, but the former Virgin Atlantic Order of Merit champion showed his star calibre with four spectacular birdies on the last five holes to tie Gowers on 67.

This latest result puts Raitt in fourth place on The PGA in England (South) money list 2014, but in pole position Chris Gane is stretching his lead, while Benn Barham (PGolfcoaching@Pedham) and Jamie Harris (Nevill) are chasing hard.