Having the honour off the tee, Buckland slightly pulled his tee shot which left him partially blocked out.
Corben meanwhile was in prime position. Corben played sensibly but just caught the greenside bunker.
Buckland tried a Bubba style hook shot around the trees but didn't quite get the movement on the ball
and ended up 40 yards past the green towards the 18th fairway. Faced with a downhill shot through the
pines to the pin on the double tier green with the lower level furthest away, Buckland pitched to
perfection and holed a double breaking 12 footer to level the match.
Both players made excellent regulation pars on the uphill 18th in the circumstances and off to the 19th
hole the match went. Buckland's renewed challenge faltered with a poor tee shot into trouble down the
left and following a Buckland penalty drop and two solid Corben shots to just left of the green, saw
Corben take his two putts to defend the title, the first since PD Flaherty in the mid seventies.
Many congratulations to David and the other matchplay qualifiers and many thanks to Cuddington and
Banstead Downs GC for their excellent hospitality all weekend.
Finally, our thanks to the many volunteers and Surrey officials who gave their time, and put in a huge
amount of work ensuring another successful County Championship.
Congratulations to the 2016 S urrey Amateur Champion David Corben
Mid-Age Championship
On a perfect day for golf the Surrey Mid-Age for 2016 was held at Reigate Hill Golf Club. With the
County Championship today - Friday - and the Club Championship over the coming weekend the
greens staff had presented the course in top condition, something that all the players agreed.
With plus handicappers in this high quality field it was going to take two good rounds to claim the title,
and so it proved with Burhill’s Duncan Hodgson shooting two under par rounds, -1 in the morning
followed by -2 in the afternoon, excellent golf indeed. This was Duncan’s second Championship title of
the season, after being part of the winning Burhill team at the County Amateurs earlier in the year.
Home player and Club Manager Mike Ducker was 2nd with Walton Heath’s Neil Williams just behind in
3rd.
Our thanks to Reigate Hill and all the staff who looked after everyone so well, especially the kitchen who
put on an absolutely fabulous lunch that was enjoyed by all the competitors and officials.
Congratulations to the 2016 Surrey Mid-Age Champion Duncan Hodgson.
Seniors’ Championship
After some incredibly prolonged heavy rain the day before the course at Woodcote park had drained
really well and was in amazingly good condition, although playing very long due to some dampness that
remained in the fairways. This was shown in the CSS, which for the morning was 76 with the afternoon
round also at 76 with reduction only!
On the day of the Championship the weather was totally the opposite, a beautiful sunny day. After the
morning round Hugh Maurice lead the way with a fine 75, closely followed by several others including
the holder and winner of the previous two years, Keith Waters.
The afternoon round proved to be a real battle and with the final scores in Martin Hayes took the bronze
medal and Hugh Maurice the silver after being just pipped by one shot for the Championship by Keith
waters, who has now won for the third year in succession, a fabulous achievement.
By winning the County Championship Keith now goes forward to play in the County Champions of
Champions Tournament of which he is also the holder. We all wish Keith good luck in retaining his
National title.
Something that is worth mentioning is that Pat Horkan, a member of the home Club, played within one
stroke of his age in the afternoon round to take the over 70’s prize, Ian Booker (Cuddington) took the
over 65’s prize and Peter Oliver-Minos (Guildford) took the over 60’s prize.
A special thanks to Woodcote Park for making everyone feel so welcome and looking after us so well,
and congratulations to our Seniors Champion, Keith Waters..
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