South Beds shake off rust to claim Turkey final

South Beds Golf Club ‘woke up’ just in time to book their place at the Golfplan Insurance PGA Pro-Captain Challenge final in Turkey.

Captain Martin McDermott, left, teamed up with the Luton club’s PGA Professional Michael Davis to win the qualifying event held at John O’Gaunt Golf Club near Biggleswade.

And the pair recovered from a mid-round blip to stage a grandstand finish and win by three shots.

They posted a nine-under-par round of 62 to beat James Peasey and Cliff Longman of Suffolk’s Woodbridge Golf Club.

McDermott and Davis will now go to the £25,000 Grand Final, supported by Canopius, at the PGA Sultan course at Antalya Golf Club, Turkey, from November 26-27.

Retired accountant McDermott admitted that the duo had gone into the event a little rusty as Davis had not been focusing on the playing side of the game for seven years.

But they ended the day with two birdies and a nett eagle in the final three holes to ease through.

“We fell asleep for a little while and bogeyed the fifth and the sixth holes,” said McDermott, 51, who plays off a handicap of 17.

“But then we made four birdies in a row.

“Michael was probably a bit rusty, but we did it and I can’t remember anyone else from this club getting to a PGA final.

“So we’re probably talking about a first here.”

Davis admitted he surprised himself due to his lack of competitive action.

“I’ve been at South Beds for almost seven years and during that time I’ve been concentrating on getting the business up and running.

“I’d lost my ‘mojo’ if you like. I didn’t want to turn up at events and not be able to compete because I hadn’t practiced.

“There’s a lot of good players around, but I said this year that I would try and play more, so this is a good reward for that.

“We were relaxed about the event, but then suddenly we were positing a decent score.

“I said to Martin that we needed to finish well and we did, so we’re delighted to be going to the final.”