Durham county champion James Glenn made the most of his first visit to the Men’s County Champion of Champions and brought the trophy back to the North East.
James, the 2025 and 2020 Durham county champion, led the field over Woodhall Spa’s Hotchkin Course with rounds of 70 and 71 for a five under-par total.
Having missed out on being part of the national event in 2020 as it was cancelled due to Covid, James was two shots back of Rory Thompson (Cumbria) after the morning round. Following lunch, he shot 71 in the afternoon to finish one clear of Rory, and two clear of Alfie Turner (Staffordshire) and Laurie Owen (Hertfordshire).
“It’s an amazing feeling to be a national champion,” said Bishop Auckland-based James. “Lifting the trophy on my first visit, having missed out in 2020, makes it even sweeter.
“I didn’t know what to expect as it’s a very small, but really strong field. My expectations were low too – I had a good run to win the Durham County Championship, but a disappointing Big Six at Bishop Auckland, and my goal was just to represent Durham as well as I could,” added James – who also has a disrupted run up to the first round as he arrived late and only managed a few shots in the net before he teed off in the morning.
“Despite the challenges of the morning, my gameplan was solid and exactly what had served me well in the second part of the season – hit it left to right, swing confidently with the driver, and leverage my short game and putting to build a score.
“I got off to a fast start in the morning, making birdie from the heather on two and backing it up with two more birdies on three and six,” added James, who went on to make two bogeys and two birdies, and finish his round with five pars as he shot 70.
“Three under-par was a good score, but I left a couple out there and was disappointed to par the two par fives on the back nine,” he added.
James was then one under-par for the front nine in the afternoon – making birdie at the par five sixth and getting away with a par after a loose drive on the seventh – before he hit his approach to 2ft at the 10th.
“I knew five under-par would be in a good spot, and I knew where I could pick up birdies on the back nine,” added James. “I got to 13 and hit a pull off the tee before pulling my punch out behind a bush. My third shot didn’t quite make it down the hill onto the green and it looked like I’d fall back. I managed to chip in for par – which is always a great moment when you’ve made a real mess of the hole!”
James then got to six under-par with a birdie at the par five 14th, before dropping a shot at the 16th after misreading a short putt.
“I knew Rory was at six under-par and I had to push to make a birdie,” he added. While James didn’t make the birdie on the 17th or the par five 18th after missing the fairway right, Rory bogeyed the 18th to fall back to four under-par and finish second.
“The wait after I came off was so long,” added James, who is an area sales manager for Mizuno. “I watched the BMW PGA, with Mizuno player Adrien Saddier missing out in the playoff, and tried to loosen up in case there was a playoff.
“I didn’t know what to say when they came over and told me I’d won. It only began to sink in during the presentation.
“The event is a far bigger deal than I realised going in – I took that in when I looked down at the trophy and saw Nick Faldo, Sandy Lyle, Lee Westwood and Tommy Fleetwood on there.
“Having made the decision to continue playing golf when my twin boys were born four-and-a-half years ago, winning events like this validates the decision to be away from them some of the time. I want them to grow up and be passionate about what they’re interested in, whatever that may be, and having my name on this trophy goes some of the way to proving the work and time away competing on the golf course was worth it.
“Having won the county championship, then had the poor result at the Big Six, this win validates that I’m back to the sort of golf I want to play. I’m not the same player I was when I was playing and practising full-time, but I can still get close to that level at times.
“I’ve never believed in myself as much as I should, and I thought everything I did before was luck. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve started to believe that I can compete and win, and I’ve got to take that confidence forward into the next few years of my amateur career.”
