Hawes is new PGA Sussex Open champ
03/10/2013
Leading Sussex amateur Wayne Hawes overcame a host of the county’s top PGA Professionals to win The PGA Sussex Open Championship at Sweetwoods Park GC.
Rising to the challenge declared by county captain Alan Covey when he spoke about the new format enabling the county’s leading amateurs to pit their skills against the county’s top PGA Professionals, the plus three-handicapper shot a two-under-par total of 140 to pip both Money List leader Jamie Harris (Nevill) and Lea Cooper (Mike Yorke Golf Academy) to the top spot by one shot.
Consolation for their performances came in the form of the cheques for £535 for both Harris and Cooper as the leading professionals. Hawes wasn’t the only amateur to perform well either, with his colleague Oliver Kenning (Ham Manor) matching the new Nikon PGA South Assistants & Trainees Order of Merit champion Christopher Croucher’s (Horsham Golf & Fitness) score of level-par 142 to share fourth place.
Cooper led after the first round with a three-under-par 68, and although he reached the turn in the second round still three-under, he slipped from the lead after a messy back nine with bogeys on the 11th, 12th and 14th.
Hawes shot 70 in the first round to be two shots off the halfway lead, but he started badly in the final round with bogeys at the first and second. A birdie at the sixth was traded for a bogey on the seventh, but another birdie at the ninth got things back on track.
A run of pars followed, and then two cracking birdies at the 16th and 17th set up his victory bid, and a par at the last handed Hawes the title after Harris bogeyed the 15th to drop back to one-under-par.
Captain of the Sussex Golf County Union Alan Covey and Secretary of The PGA in Sussex Sam Smith were delighted with the event and the way its new format had worked out, enabling more amateurs to play in the second round.
Covey said: “The PGA Sussex Open Championship attracted a top class field of amateurs and professionals, it was organised and run very professionally by The PGA team, and naturally I was delighted to see Wayne, one of our best players, win the title.”
Smith added: “It’s a great way to see the expertise of top amateurs compared to those of seasoned pros, and congratulations to Wayne for his excellent performance on a very challenging course. We’d also like to thank Sweetwoods’ owner Martin Long for offering to hold this event at his championship course, and for presenting it in top class condition.”
The trophy that Hawes lifted was presented not only on the day by John Wilson, Vice President of the SCGU, but also to the tournament in perpetuity as The John Wilson Trophy for The PGA Sussex Open Championship.
