City of Newcastle finished third in the European Men’s Club Trophy in France.
City qualified for the event by winning the Northumberland County First Division title, which took them into the English Club Championship at East Devon.
Victory there saw them off to the Golf Du Medoc Resort in Southern France where Mark Wharton, Alex Dixon and Phil Ridden gave it their best shot to finish third in the team event while Dixon finished in a tie for fourth place in the individual championship with scores of 72 68 and 71 – three behind winner Adrien Dumont de Chassart of Belgian.
Wharton’s rounds of 75, 70 and 72 saw him tie for 11th spot while Ridden posted rounds of 72, 73 and 75 to tie 24th. A good second day saw them figure on the team leaderboard in second spot and they went on to push the leaders hard on the front nine of the final day.
In the end a fantastic performance over the week was rewarded with third place overall on 424, one behind Galway Golf Club with Racing Club France La Boulie worthy winners on 414. There were 24 national champion golf clubs and defending champions Golf Saint Germain en Laye competing with the best two individual scores from the three players each day counted for the team aggregate score.
Racing Club de France La Boulie clinched the trophy for a fifth time with a 12 under-par total to become the most successful club in the history of the event.
In the English Club Championship, City of Newcastle achieved a remarkable 14-shot victory to book their place in France – their first victory in the annual event.
