Lancashire Constabulary Sports & Social Club - PSUK Golf Championships 2006

In June, the Lancashire Constabulary Golf Section were the hosts of the prestigious Police Sport UK National Championships. Northern Division’s PC Peter Murphy (recently retired) and a team of other helpers put together a very well planned and coordinated championships with 103 competitors from 31 UK Police Forces taking part. The event was a resounding success.

Five top Lancashire players competed in the Championships with DC Michael Hanson and DC Nigel Barnes (‘G’ Division), Bob Thompson (Pennine Division), DC Ian Hill and DC Peter Nelson (Northern Division) competing against the country’s finest police golfers. The team finished 8^th, 22^nd, 27^th, 38^th and 80^th respectively.

The course was in magnificent condition from day one and the weather forecast to be fine, dry and sunny, which was amazing after the weather of the previous week. On practice day the greens were superbly smooth and medium to fast.

Day 1

The conditions throughout the playing time were excellent and some excellent scores were predicted. In the end the scoring did not quite turn out as good as was expected, probably because we were all still learning about the course during the first round proper. It was becoming apparent that positional play at Fairhaven was very important, especially with the second shot and certain pin positions.

Seventy-four was the best score of the day, which put Chris Mayo (Gwent), Craig Cuthbert (Greater Manchester) and Matt Denton (Merseyside) firmly at the top of the leader board. Lurking in the wings on seventy-five was previous winner Chris Dinsdale (Gwent), Mark Lee (Nottinghamshire), Ian Fraser (Dumfries & Galloway), John Chapman (Derbyshire), Stuart Bancroft (Hampshire), Russell Thwaites (Kent) and Bobby Thompson (Lancashire).

The latter score was a wonderful achievement from the previous English Committee Member, who had played very little golf since sustaining a serious injury to his ankle. Bob, of course, was playing as a retired member on this occasion having recently left the police to become Secretary of Fairhaven GC! In the lead in the first round of the 36 hole Handicap Trophy was Mark Lee, Stuart Bancroft and Bobby Thompson all with net seventy-ones.

Day 2

Round two saw the materialisation of the sort of rounds that had been expected. Star amongst the second round scores was Craig Cuthbert with a superb round of seventy-one. This gave Craig a two round total of 145 and put him quite firmly in the lead. Following hard on Craig’s heels in this round was a seventy-two from Bob Lander (Metropolitan). This was a great recovery round for Bob from a first round of eighty-four, and certainly saved him from an early morning start in the third round!

Other scores at the top end of the leader board were Paul Tatlow and John Chapman (both from Derbyshire) who scored seventy-three, and Jim Gilmour (Strathclyde) with a seventy-four. Placing themselves in a better position for a fight over the last 36 holes was Gareth Hodges (Metropolitan), Simon Harper (Devon & Cornwall) & Colin Milne (Lothian & Borders).

Day 3

Day 3 saw the continuation of the good weather and the good scores. Matt Denton continued his impressive play and was star of the day with a seventy-one. Richard Giles (Derbyshire) had a fine round of seventy-two which was only nineteen shots better than his previous round! This course was showing no respect for anyone for anyone that did not show it respect! Golfers of Richard’s quality could get their act together as he had done in round 3 or let the course grab them and knock them back as in his round 2.

Chris Mayo brought himself back into contention with a round of seventy-three, and three seventy-fours by Keith Davies (Essex), John Chapman and Paul Tatlow placed all three in great contention positions, specially John Chapman.

Day 4

Whether it was nerves or the fact that some players were out of contention…………….but scores on the last day went very slightly downhill. In the final threeball, consisting of Matt, Craig and John, nerves had a little to do with the outcome – certainly in John’s case. Matt, unfortunately, could not keep up his quality of play (and it is very difficult in a four round scratch tournament) right to the very end and finished with an eighty-two.

Craig and John arrived at the 17th tee with John Chapman in the position of being six shots ahead. John teed off and miscalculated the clubbing slightly ending up in the bunker short right at the green. Craig’s tee shot was not good and bounced before the bunkers and hopped up onto the green. John came out the bunker successfully but followed it up with two putts, the same number used by Craig. Hole over and John still five ahead……….

Craig drove on the 18th and it was good. John drove and pulled it slightly left but with not with a major concern. 40 people spent five minutes looking for his ball without any success, recovering nine others. At three off the tee John was now in the fairway and played his fourth shot short of the green. Meanwhile Craig hit what was possibly the best second shot of the week (under the pressure) to about eight feet from the flag.

The tension rose, naturally, and John played his fifth shot onto the green. Craig then proceeded to stun the audience into rapturous applause by holing his putt for an eagle – a fantastic putt to put all the pressure on John. But in the melee of it all John putted his sixth shot close, and manages to hang on by a single shot by holing his short seventh!

Results Table

Pos	Name	Force	Handicap	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Total Gross
1	John Chapman	Derbyshire	0	75	73	74	77	299
2	Craig Cuthbert	G.M.P.	1	74	71	80	75	300
3	Chris Drinsdale	Gwent	-1	75	77	76	75	303
4	Matt Denton	Merseyside	1	74	77	71	82	304
5	Chris Mayo	Gwent	0	74	82	73	78	307
6	Malcolm Reid	Thames Valley	2	78	76	80	78	312
7	Malcolm Graham	Loyhian & Borders	2	76	82	75	79	312
8	Michael Hanson	Lancashire	2	77	76	79	80	312
9	Russell Thwaites	Kent	3	75	83	78	77	312
10	Paul Tatlow	Derbyshire	0	84	73	74	82	313
11	Ian Fraser	Dumfries & Galloway	-1	75	76	80	82	313
12	Keith Davies	Essex	2	81	82	74	77	314
13	Garethy Hodges	Metropolitan	2	85	75	77	78	315
14	Sandy Calder	Lothian & Broders	4	80	76	77	82	315
15	Mark Lee	Nottinghamshire	4	75	82	75	83	315
16	Andy Wild	Hertfordshire	3	81	76	84	75	316
17	Phil Sutton	Bedfordshire	0	76	77	78	85	316
18	Andy Williams	Gwent	0	78	79	75	85	317
19	William Brown	Strathclyde	1	81	80	82	75	318
20	Paul Spreadbury	Hampshire	4	80	81	82	76	319
21	Michael White	Wiltshire	0	81	80	78	80	319
22	Nigel Barnes	Lancashire	1	81	79	78	81	319
23	Bob Lander	Metropolitan	2	84	72	81	82	319
24	Matthew Malpas	Strathclyde	1	77	77	83	82	319
25	Jim Coleman	Strathclyde	3	79	80	83	78	320
26	Neil Benstead	West Yorkshire	1	77	78	80	85	320
27	Bob Thompson	Lancashire	4	75	81	79	85	320
28	Graham Milne	Durham	1	78	75	80	87	320
29	Richard Giles	Derbyshire	1	79	91	72	79	321
30	Chris Davies	North Wales	0	79	84	79	81	323
31	Kenny Wilson	Strathclyde	2	79	79	84	81	323
32	Paul Smethurst	G.M.P.	2	80	80	81	82	323
33	Fraser Jervis	Lothian & Borders	0	79	91	78	76	323
34	Andrew Malcolm	Central Scotland	3	84	83	80	77	324
35	Geotge Wilson	Thames Valley	2	80	83	76	85	324
36	Eric Dalgleish	Strathclyde	3	82	80	83	80	325
37	Stuart Boyd	Strathclyde	5	79	85	76	85	325
38	Ian Hill	Lancashire	0	81	80	78	86	325
39	Ken Paterson	Thames Valley	4	76	82	80	87	325
40	Andy Francis	Kent	5	84	84	83	75	326
41	Gordopn Laing	Fife	3	79	80	79	88	326
42	Jonathan Boyd	P.S.N.I.	2	78	91	79	79	327
43	Andrew Verner	P.S.N.I.	4	82	81	82	82	327
44	Ross Hall	Fife	1	78	83	84	82	327
45	Henry Anderson	Central Scotland	2	79	86	79	83	327
46	John R. Hunter	Lothian & Borders	1	84	81	75	87	327
47	Michael Lay	G.M.P.	4	80	80	79	88	327
48	Colin Milne	Lothian & Borders	1	83	80	82	83	328
49	David Atkinson	Metropolitan	3	83	79	83	83	328
50	Chris Walker	Lothian & Borders	0	80	83	82	83	328
51	Nicholas Burt	Metropolitan	3	80	79	85	84	328
52	Stuart Bancrift	Hampshire	4	75	81	85	87	328
53	Kieran Brownsell	Metropolitan	1	79	84	82	84	329
54	Gordon Livingston	Cheshire	3	87	78	80	84	329
55	Charles Phillips	Devon&Cornwall	4	82	77	83	87	329
56	John Hughes	Merseyside	4	78	78	86	87	329
57	Billy Steel	Derbyshire	2	83	86	83	78	330
58	Adam Marshall	Kent	5	80	81	89	80	330
59	Graham Smith	Strathclyde	3	87	77	85	81	330
60	Stewart Kirkland	Strathclyde	1	84	80	82	84	330
61	Nick Todd	Metropolitan	4	80	81	89	81	331
62	Steve Hewish	Lincolnshire	0	82	79	84	86	331
63	Anthony McVeigh	Derbyshire	4	76	85	83	87	331
64	Keith McAllister	Northumbria	4	82	83	87	80	332
65	Guy Hindle	Cheshire	0	83	78	82	89	332
66	Neil Loryman	West Yorkshire	2	92	80	78	83	333
67	Gary Marshall	Strathclyde	3	82	82	85	84	333
68	David Morgan	Cheshire	2	86	80	80	87	333
69	Gavin Lambie	Strathclyde	4	83	84	77	89	333
70	Nick Paling	Norfolk	3	83	79	87	85	334
71	Simon Hoyle	Devon & Cornwall	4	86	84	84	81	335
72	John R. Smith	Metropolitan	3	79	83	85	88	335
73	Martin Rothwell	Derbyshire	4	82	83	82	88	335
74	Martin Witchard	Hertfordshire	4	90	78	78	89	335
75	Gordon Doig	Dumfries & Galloway	1	83	90	83	80	336
76	Andy Sidney	Nottinghamshire	2	84	88	80	84	336
77	Ross McCrabbe	P.S.N.I.	2	84	79	89	84	336
78	Simon Harper	Devon & Cornwall	1	89	75	86	86	336
79	Mark Johnson	Nottighamshire	5	85	79	84	88	336
80	Peter Nelson	Lancashire	4	81	84	79	92	336
81	James Boyd	Strathclyde	2	82	84	82	89	337
82	John McKay	Strathclyde	4	83	87	80	89	339
83	Julien Knight	Gwent	4	89	79	80	91	339
84	Lee Holmes	West Yorkshire	4	83	87	87	83	340
85	Jim Stevenson	Strathclyde	5	87	81	86	86	340
86	Mike Tonge	Gwent	3	84	88	90	79	341
87	John Bagnall	Metropolitan	6	83	89	83	86	341
88	Geoffrey Marshall	Fife	4	90	77	88	88	341
89	P. Brown	Kent	4	83	85	84	91	343
90	John Tolley	Leicestershire	5	83	87	82	92	344
91	Grant Champion	Devon and Cornwall	5	89	85	86	85	345
92	David Morland	Metropolitan	4	87	82	89	88	346
93	Steven Wilson	Strathclyde	2	87	88	88	85	348
94	Adrian Isaac	City of London	4	84	91	90	86	348
95	D. Murphy	B.T.P.	7	87	89	91	85	352
96	Ady Myhill	Norfolk	9	89	96	83	86	354
97	C. Haskins	Devon and Cornwall	4	90	86	89	92	357
98	Richard Wilson	Kent	4	87	95	90	89	361