Ramsey heading for Portugal after Camberley Heath thriller

Piltdown Golf Club amateur Louis Ramsay reached the final of the Lombard Trophy after a dramatic last-gasp finish at Camberley Heath Golf Club.

Corporate events manager Ramsay teamed up with Piltdown PGA professional Jason Partridge for the event.

And they staged a thrilling finale to their round to win by one shot with 16-handicapper Ramsay sinking the vital putt at the 18th hole.

The Sussex duo were last to finish and they produced three birdies in the last three holes to pip long-time leaders Ian Golding and Glen Grummitt of Surrey’s Kingswood Golf Club.

Ramsay and Partridge carded an 11 under par round of 60 and will now travel to Portugal for the £41,450, Coca-Cola and Pestana Resorts supported, National Pro-Am grand final which will be played at the Vila Sol resort in the Algarve between September 20-21.

But Partridge’s tactic was not to let his 23-year-old amateur partner know how well they were doing - and even the professional did not realise Piltdown’s winning position until the round was over.

“It was an exciting finish - well it was and and it wasn’t as neither of us knew what the score was, we didn’t know what we needed right up until the final putt on the last hole,” said Ramsay, who has been a member at Piltdown for around 10 years.

“Perhaps it was just as well as that would’ve added to the pressure. The timing was perfect in the end, we needed to birdie all of the last three holes and we did.

“I missed a shot down the hill on the 18th and put it quite a long way past then flag, the green was very fast.  But then I had an eight-foot putt back up the hill which went in through the ‘side door’.

“We had a marker going around with us and he said that putt was better than we thought.  That’s when we knew we’d won.

“Going to Portugal will be tremendous and I booked the time off work straight away.”

But Partridge, who has never played in the Lombard Trophy final before, said he had an idea he and Ramsay were in contention.

“At the 16th hole, the photographer turned up so I could tell we were in with a sniff here, but I didn’t say anything to Louis,” he said.

“I knew we were going all right after 17 holes. I said to Louis that he just needed to hit the fairway on the short par four.

“But he hit it past the flag. I had a 20 footer up the hill for birdie, but I let Louis go first as I didn’t want him to have the pressure of the final putt, but he holed it for a nett birdie. And we would’ve lost on countback!

“It all happened so quickly at the end, I didn’t even want to look at the scores before the 18th.”

For a full list of results from the Lombard Trophy Regional Final at Camberley Heath Golf Club click here.
 
For more information about the Lombard Trophy click here.