Tournament News from Aaron Howard with Sarah Smith Thetford Winter Series - November Pro-Am Thetford golf club hosted it’s November Pro-Am and Am-Am events yesterday. Alongside a multitude of Saffron Walden members playing in the Am-Am, Sarah and I took partners to play in the Pro-Am event. Utilising the rare opportunity that we are both away from the pro shop at the same time we even managed to play in the same group. Sarah partnered her father David and I was joined by Ben Rutherford. The weather stayed dry but the wind made certain holes play much tougher than usual, The early frost also made it difficult to bounce the ball close to some tricky front flag positions. However, the course is so well prepared for the time of year and the greens roll very nicely. The course operates a two tee start from the 6th and 14th holes to allow a full field time to get round in daylight. In the Pros medal tournament, Sarah played really well and I personally think the organiser should move the ladies tees back much closer to the men’s as she was out driving us all! Her putting let her down near the end otherwise her score would have been lower. She finished with 5 over (77) but struck the ball really well. I managed four birdies to score a 1 under par (71). My particular highlight was a 3 wood second shot hit up the hill on the tough 470 yard 18th hole to three feet. The hole played into the wind and the shot gave me a timely birdie and momentum to play the final five holes. Out of twenty-four top professionals the top five all go up to collect prizes. I finished in third place behind Paul Maddy (70) and eventual winner Jamie Moul (69). I was really thrilled with this result To see the full results click here |