Suffolk raider Neil Mitchell best at Thetford

Suffolk raider Neil Mitchell overcame gale-force winds and bitterly cold conditions to win the final Norfolk PGA pro-am of the year at Thetford.

The Bury Golf Range pro, runner-up in this event in 2011, was last out and produced the best round of a testing day. His one-under-par round of 71 beat Ryan Pudney (Mundesley) into second place by one shot.

Ian Ellis (Costessey Park), Mark Allen (Eaton) and Stuart Brown (Orton Meadows) were joint third with 74. The leading trainee was Matthew Gardner (Barnham Broom) with 79.

Ellis sealed the Norfolk PGA Order of Merit for 2013 for the third successive year but as he had already qualified for next year’s PGA East order of merit events, Pudney (pictured above) leapfrogged over Michael Few (Weston Park) to claim the county exemption.

Pudney also led the wining pro-am team of Jeremy Atherton, James Crosby and Dave Crosby with four under par 140. Ellis, Randy Reynolds, Martin Newman and Ian Duncan were runners-up one shot behind.

Third place went to Mike Jubb (Sheringham), Stefan Neething, Colin Clark and Fred Askew on count back from Allen, Dave Thomas, Rob Newman and Mark Taylor. They signed for 142.

The final Norfolk PGA Order of Merit scores were: Ellis 64, Pudney 51, Few 50, Jason Groat (Denver Golf Centre) 37, Allen 29, Gardner 24, Lee Patterson (Royal Cromer) 21, Alex Beckett (Barnham Broom) 20.