Levermore takes title in Belgium

Strong winds and rain greeted the 14 teams who travelled to Royal Ostend for the first day of the PGA in Essex 2014 overseas Pro-Am.

Fortunately the final two rounds at Damme Golf and Country Club and Royal Zoute were played under mainly blue skies and in pleasant temperatures.

Despite the difficult first day conditions both John Judd and Steve Cipa managed very creditable rounds of level par 70 to lead the tournament by one from Jason Levermore.

The second day saw big moves from Brett Taylor and Levermore, who shot scores of 67 and 68 respectively round a difficult layout at Damme, which has a very testing new nine holes.

John Fryatt moved into contention with a 69 setting up an exciting final day. The final day of the tournament was played at Royal Zoute, which is justifiably ranked in the top 10 courses in Europe. Taylor and Levermore went into the final day tied on 139, however Levermore continued his stellar season by shooting a fantastic five under par 67 to win the tournament by seven shots.

Taylor comfortably held on to second spot with Judd managing to secure third place by one shot from Fryatt.  

James Jankowski from Essendon and Mark Allen from Eaton Golf Club tied for fifth place ensuring that the guests from outside the Essex PGA picked up some prize money.

In the team event, Chris Cutchie and his side set the pace on day one, amassing 83 points. A day later Judd’s side from Thorndon Park posted 86 to put them into contention.

It proved just enough for victory for Judd and his side of Blair Hunter, Nick Burr and Mike O’Dell as they finished on 249 points, the equivalent of 33-under-par. They won by just one point following a strong challenge from Mark Baker’s team.