Wallis claims tightly contested West Hill Pro-Am
03/08/2021
Richard Wallis produced a three-under-par 66 to win the West Hill Pro-Am by just one shot from a congested leaderboard.
The West Hill Pro-Am featured 38 professionals vying for a slice of the £10,000 purse, with teams of four competing for the team Stableford event trophy.
Over the 6,366-yard layout, it would be Canterbury Golf Club’s Richard Wallis who claimed the £2000 first prize, beating last week’s Westcoast Pro-Am winner Guy Woodman (ProAgenda.com), Andrew Raitt (St George’s Hill), Philip Beever (Wildernesse Club) and Andrew Butterfield (Knole Park) by just a single shot.
The 40-year-old, who currently sits just outside the top-10 in the CK Facilities Management PGA South Region Order of Merit standings, produced five birdies and two bogies to claim his second victory of the season.
Starting in the third group from last, Wallis made a birdie at the par-4 opening hole, with a birdie at the par-5 fifth moving him to two-under-par for his day. Despite a bogey at the tricky sixth, Wallis would get a shot back at the par-3 seventh, his third birdie of the day, moving him back to two-under for the tournament.
Going into his back nine, the trio of Raitt, Beever and Woodman were already in the clubhouse, setting the target at two-under-par. Wallis, on the other hand, would soon overtake the threesome, birdieing the driveable par-4 12th, joining Butterfield, who was eight groups ahead of the 40-year-old, at three-under-par.
However, Butterfield would soon join the clubhouse trio at two-under-par, with a closing bogey at the tough finishing hole dropping him back into a four-way tie for second.
Wallis, the Canterbury Golf Club Senior Teaching Professional, was now leading by one and would soon double his lead at the penultimate hole with his fifth birdie of the day, at the par-5 17th, giving him a slightly bigger cushion going up the tricky last.
Despite making bogey, Wallis managed to secure the title by a single stroke, with the win his 66th of his career.
In the team Stableford event, it was Adam Clough’s (PGolfCoaching@Pedham) team of Rob Gumbell, Steve Buckmaster and Richard Buckmaster who claimed the win with 91 points. The quartet secured victory by four points from Benn Barham’s team (Robert Rock Academy), Raitt’s team and Callum Mackay’s team.
