Hillson leaves best until last at Knole Park
03/11/2014
Crowning his best professional season to date, Mark Hillson (Tandridge) shot a superb six-under-par 64 to win the second Knole Park Pro-Am of the year by four shots.
Leaving the 68s of his nearest rivals James Jones (Tonbridge) and Lea Cooper (Burgess Hill Academy) trailing in his wake, Hillson’s 64 marked a fitting climax to The PGA in England (South) 2014 schedule, and earned him another cheque to add to his very profitable 2014 campaign.
“It’s been my best year since turning professional,” he said, “and as I qualified in April I was able to play in more events as well. There’s a lot of fine golfers in the region, so you have to play your best golf to get in the frame, and you rarely get the luxury of winning by four shots!”
Starting at the sixth, Hillson birdied the seventh, ninth and 13th to reach three-under-par, and he bounced back from an errant three putt on the 14th with another birdie on the 15th. He made three more at the 17th, second and third, adding two more pars to finish on six-under-par.
Hillson’s driving set up a good score, he explained: “I hit every fairway and green in regulation, and made all four par fives in two for two putt birdies, which made things a bit more straightforward and took the pressure off my putting.”
Hillson won three of the 2013-2014 Winter Series supported by Titleist and FootJoy, and went on to win the Assistant’s & Trainees Championship at the Drift in September.
He continued: “It’s been a good year for me, and for 2015 I’m putting in a lot of work over the winter to make my next season even more competitive. Besides the Winter Series I’m going to play in the Sunshine Pro-Am in Portugal in February, and I’m hoping to make more of a mark in the Order of Merit events as well.
“With the strength of the field at these events, getting into the top 10 is pretty hard, but getting into one of those top three places is a massive achievement!”
