Three way tie at Knole Park

Kieran Staunton (Woodcote Park), Rob McGuirk (Prince’s) and Jamie Harris (Nevill and KRL, above) all shot three-under-par 67s* to share the winnings at the Knole Park Pro-Am.

Walking away with a share of the winners’ cheques worth £555 each, the southern trio nudged triple event winner to date Benn Barham (King’s Hill) into second place with a solid two-under-par 68, while Knole Park’s own head PGA Professional Andy Butterfield produced a 69 for third place.

While the playing condition of the course was widely admired, things weren’t easy at Knole Park. Strong winds made two of the long par fours into the wind almost unreachable, and with small well defended greens none of the holes were a pushover for par.

Staunton and McGuirk each made just one bogey in their masterful rounds, with McGuirk on a hot charge from the sixth to the ninth where he shot two birdies and an eagle.

Starting at the 18^th, Harris managed to repeat the same feat he’d achieved at Knole Park in the Institute of Directors Pro-Am the week before, and eagled both the seventh and the 17^th, his last hole where a 15 foot putt took him from third to first spot to make his day.

Knole Park remains one of Harris’s favourite courses, he commented: “I won the Kent Cob here as an amateur and have played it many times since then, so it’s a course where I really feel at home.”

Harris also complimented the increasingly competitive standard of golf being played in the regional events, a point that was well made with the terrific scoring in the recent PGA Kent Open presented by Vision4Sport where the winner only just won with 13-under-par over three rounds.

“The standard in the region is now the best it’s ever been because we’ve got yet more top players, some with Tour experience and some budding young stars, and it really makes a difference,” he said. “The rest of us all have to raise our game, work harder and shoot lower scores if we want to be in the money.”

Working full time with regional supporter KRL, Harris is also helping his company to spread the word to their customers to play in pro-am events. He said: “Pro-ams are a great day out compared to a typical corporate golf day, and we’re making sure that all our customers not only know this fact, but start to enter a few themselves.”