Alex Dixon won the first individual event of the Northumberland Union of Golf Clubs season – the North & South Trophy.
Dixon, from City of Newcastle Golf Club, shot rounds of 71 and 70 to lift the trophy in tough conditions at Newbiggin Golf Club.
Newbiggin’s Merrill Lansbury finished one shot behind with a two-round total of 142 (72-70) while county champion Mark Wharton (City of Newcastle) was third with a score of 145 (71-74).
Dixon said: “It’s great to get a win so early in the season and in such tough conditions at Newbiggin.
“The course was playing really tough in both rounds and I knew before I went out that the key was going to be keeping your head, accepting that things were going to go wrong out there, and just grinding out the pars.”
Dixon now leads the Race to the Dawson, a two-event order of merit from which the leading player will receive an invite to the 2017 Dawson & Sanderson Classic at Longhirst Hall Golf Club July 5-7. The second event in the series, the 72-Hole Strokeplay Championship at Whitley Bay Golf Club, takes place June 10-11.
“I’ve now got a fantastic opportunity to make it to the EuroPro Tour event at Longhirst this summer and I’ll be putting a lot of work in ahead of the Strokeplay to give myself the best chance of getting there,” Dixon added.
“I’ve been working hard over the winter with my coaches Steve McKenna and Andy Paisley and for that work, both on the technical side and on preparing myself to play my best golf, to have paid off so early in the year is a great feeling.”
Next up in the Northumberland county schedule is a trip to Bolton Old Links to take on Lancashire on May 13.
