Wallis takes Prince’s 27 crown – again!

Richard Wallis (Canterbury) and his amateur sparring partner Tony Adams successfully defended their title yesterday to remain the PGA Prince’s 27 champions, completing the three nines in just 100 strokes.

The unique format exploits Prince’s layout of three nines, with the first nine played as a foursomes over the Shore nine, the second a Greensomes over the Dunes nine, and the last nine a Four-Ball BetterBall over the Himalayas nine. Wallis and Adams shot 34, 35 and 31 for their winning card.

With weather conditions for once almost perfect, the dynamic duo just managed to edge out the cards of 101 from three other strong combinations: Chris Evans (Tandridge) and his partner Ryan Warren, Benn Barham (Pentland Golf) and partner Matt Woolf, and Paul Page (West Malling) and his partner Robert Johnson.

Wallis took home a handy £550 while Adams collected another top trolley from GoKart, and the bag to go with it as well.

"For once it was really warm with a one and half club wind, ideal for links golf," said Wallis.

"Tony’s a member at Prince’s and now off four, and he and I have been playing in pro-ams for years, so it’s really nice to play together in something that’s refreshingly different, especially when it’s at his home club and around a golf course I really like.”

His partner Adams, added: “Prince’s was in fantastic condition, but with all the rain we’ve had the rough’s brutal, so it was a pretty stern test of golf. 

"Richard played well enough, but our main goal was to beat our playing partners, Richard’s coach Paul Page and Bob Johnson. We were level pegging right up the last two holes, both of which we managed to birdie.

"Both Richard and I both made birdies at the last hole, and as it turned out it was just enough to fend off the opposition!”

Wallis - having won the Virgin Atlantic PGA South Order of Merit four times - is now the senior teaching professional at Canterbury Golf Club focussing on his teaching business.

“It’s going really well, and I’m very happy with the number of lessons I’m doing. There’s a nice balance now between playing and teaching, and that means I can pick and choose the events I like playing in, on courses I really enjoy.”