Holleyman victory has a sting in the tail

Landscape gardener Robert Holleyman had to dig deep to win through to the Lombard Trophy final at Gleneagles.

The Westerham Golf Club amateur partnered PGA Professional Frazer Amey to win by just one shot at Royal Ashdown Forest Golf Club.

The Kent duo made a blistering start to reach the turn at seven-under-par.

But they almost put that good work to waste with four bogeys on the back nine as they finished with a six-under-par round of 66.

That proved good enough though as their rivals also found life difficult at the East Sussex venue.

And they pipped Tim Spence and Nicholas Jones (Lindfield Golf Club) and Alan Harrison and Christopher Turton (Royal Eastbourne Golf Club) into joint second place.

Amey and Holleyman will now play in the £80,000 final played over the PGA Centenary Course at Gleneagles between September 1-2.

And both players admitted their win came as something of a surprise.

“We both went home after the event and kept looking at the scores online,” said Sevenoaks-based Holley, aged 42, who plays off a handicap of 12.

“But after a while Frazer called me and said we’d better get back down there again.

“And we ended up winning which was a little bit unexpected.”

Amey thought the chance to play at the famous Ryder Cup venue had gone.

“I was surprised we won with that score as we did our best to throw it away,” he said.

“We were on fire on the front nine, but then hit the heather coming back and lost ground.

“I wasn’t sure we’d hold on, we were the second pairing out and I felt someone would beat us, but it was a difficult day for everyone.”

Neither player has been to Gleneagles before and it is Amey’s first appearance in the PGA Pro-Am Championship Final.

“I’m really excited about it, this is a brilliant achievement and we can’t wait to get up to Scotland,” he said.