Willey doubles up at Morley Hayes

15/10/2020

Andy Willey made up a six-shot deficit in the Morley Hayes Championship to end up celebrating a double success - winning the tournament and the PGA Midlands Order of Merit.

He had begun the final negotiation of the Derbyshire course on three-under, six shots adrift of overnight leader Matt Fieldsend.

In addition, Ben Hall and Simon Lilly, on six and five-under respectively, were well-placed to foil Willey's bid for the £780 first prize.

As a result, topping the Order of Merit for the first time in his career looked a more likely scenario.

Not least because Jamie Brittain, the defending champion who led Willey by just 40 points, was on two-over and struggling to retain his title.

Brittain, who represents the Matthew Lea Golf Academy, improved in the second round, posting a one-under par total of 71 to finish on one-over for the tournament and fourth in the Order of Merit.

By contrast, Drayton Park Golf Club’s Fieldsend was unable to repeat or even come close to replicating the coruscating form he produced on day one.

He finished on eight-under after a one-over-par round of 73 and Rushcliffe Golf Club’s Hall could only improve his score by one to end on seven-under.

Meanwhile, Lilly, who represents De Vere Staverton Park Estate, was the main threat to Willey and a play-off looked in the offing until he bogeyed the par-four 18^th to finish on eight-under.

Willey, however, found the form that had won him the Titleist & FootJoy PGA Championship in 2017. As a result he experienced no such mishaps in posting a bogey-free round of 66 to finish on nine-under and win the tournament by a shot.

Reflecting on his round, the pro from Oakmere Golf Club, Nottinghamshire, said: “I’ve been struggling with my putting and my scorecards have been quite erratic over the past few weeks – birdies, bogeys, pars – and it’s not normally like that. So it was good to get round today without a bogey and I thought I’d be in a play-off.

“It was unfortunate for Simon to three-putt the last and hand me the trophy. I was fully expecting to go back down the first with him. It’s good to get a win on the last one of the season.

“As for the Order of Merit, I’ve been in the top three for the last few years so it’s nice to win it at last.

“I was third in the Order of Merit going into today and my aim was to shoot a low score to stay in the top three.

“That’s all I was thinking. Don’t make any mistakes, have a nice round and hopefully finish in the top five which would guarantee me a top three place in the Order of Merit and end of season PGA Play-Offs. But I ended up winning the tournament and the Order of Merit, which is great.”

The PGA Play-Offs will be staged next year because of COVID-19 and Willey will be joined in them by Matt Cort and Lilly, who finished second and third respectively.

Brittain has also qualified because Cort had already booked his place by finishing tied-second in the PGA Professional Championships.

Full scores are accessible here

The final Order of Merit is accessible here