Three-way split at Foxhills

Tom Fleming (Newbury & Crookham), Adam Wootton (Oxford Golf Centre) and current Virgin Atlantic PGA South Order of Merit champion James Ablett (Lee-on-the-Solent) all shot stunning six-under-par 67s at Foxhills to tie for victory in the JSP Construction Industry Pro-Am.

Playing around the Bernard Hunt course, each of them took home winners’ cheques for £500. Their birdie barrages not only edged out Ally Mellor’s impressive five-under-par 68, but showed that the long winter hasn’t affected the performances of South’s top players.

To accommodate the large number of companies supporting the event, the team competition was based on a five ball format, with the best two Stableford scores counting.  In another three-way tie, the team from Cleshar Contract Services with Martin Woodbridge (Bearwood Lakes) emerged the victors after a count back, edging Wootton’s team from the Danny Sullivan Group into second place and Matt Rice’s (Purley Downs) from Benchmark Scaffolding into third.

The Pro-Am, held in aid of the Lighthouse Club Benevolent Fund, used the new VPAR electronic scoring system with live on course leaderboards to encourage lots of low scoring. A strong field certainly delivered lots of birdies, but the trio of Fleming, Wootton and Ablett outshone the rest.

Starting on the 10th Fleming opened his account with three birdies on the trot from the 13th, adding another on the 18th to turn at four-under-par. Just two more birdies at the third and seventh followed as Fleming finished on 67.

Wootton opened with a birdie on the 12th, found another two holes later on the 14th, but then went through the next six holes before making another on the third. Inspiration returned with another on the fifth to reach four-under, but with holes fast running out Wootton shot two more on the seventh and eighth to match Fleming’s six birdie 67.

Starting where he left off last season, Ablett also started on the 10th making three birdies in succession from the 14th and adding another at the 18th to match Fleming’s four-under-par after nine. Ablett made two more on the sixth and the seventh, finishing with two safe pars to equal Fleming and Wootton on six-under-par.

With a long track record of generous support from the construction industry, the Lighthouse Club gives financial help to thousands of families that are plunged into financial crisis when they lose their breadwinner’s income through illness, injury or death. The JSP Construction Industry Pro-Am is one of the charity’s annual highlights, followed by an auction dinner that always manages to raise even more funds their excellent cause.