Our annual Mens Mid Age Championship was played yesterday (Monday 15 July) at The Hertfordshire Golf & Country Club, located in the East of the County near Broxbourne. 51 competitors took part playing 36 holes strokeplay medal, with seperate scratch and handicap competitions on the day.
The course was presented well and provides a fair and interesting challenge for the competitors, with some water hazards to avoid down the closing stretch and a fair amount of long, whispy rough providing some penalty for wide shots across the course.
The weather in the lead up to the event rendered the course playing very scoreable and some rain/drizzle between rounds also further softened the course up to more of a target golf challenge.
After the morning 18 holes, Tony Mitchell of Harpenden Common, a former England Boys player and County Boys Champion, led by 4 shots with a magnificent round of 65 (-5). A pack of three players on 69 (-1) were the nearest challengers, with Former County Champion Tony Wilkins of Harpenden Common, current Mens Order of Merit holder Niall Johnston of Letchworth and Simon Irwin of Verulam.
Mitchell, who has only relatively recently returned to the game after a long break throughout his twenties, rolled back the years and showed his mettle to clinch the title with an afternoon 67 (-3), for an awesome 36 hole gross total of 132 (-8). Tony would win by 3 shots from his nearest competitor, David Jackson of Hadley Wood, himself a 2 time winner of the event, who stormed through the field with a pm joint best of the day 65 (-5) for a total of 135 (-5) for the day. Making up the top 3 was the always consistent Niall Johnston, adding an afternoon level par round of 70 for a total of 139 (-1) for the day. Mat Larman of Hanbury Manor would win the best handicap prize, aided by an excellent score of gross 67 nett 63 in the pm round for a nett total of 134 (-6) for the day.
Our sincere thanks to The Hertfordshire G&CC for hosting the event and their ongoing support for County Golf.
