The roar of high-performance cars at neighbouring Silverstone proved a fitting soundtrack as David Clark and Martyn Jobling won the Golfbreaks.com PGA Fourball Championship.
Having begun the third and final round at Whittlebury Park four shots adrift, the Morpeth duo clinched victory by one shot when Clark sank a 20ft birdie on the final hole.
West Country pair Michael Watson and Richard O’Hanlon closed with a 67 but Clark and Jobling earned the £5,500 winners’ cheque rather than having it gifted to them when they posted a closing round of 62 to finish 23 under-par.
Clark and Jobling still trailed by three at the turn, but six birdies followed, including at 17 and 18 courtesy of Clark.
“We holed some nice putts today, especially on 10. Martyn holed out for a par and that kick-started us. We had six birdies in the final eight holes after that. We didn’t think about winning as such and knew there were a couple of groups in front that were going well. But we felt if we could keep chipping away at Richard and Michael we probably wouldn’t be that far away.”
On another day Clark would have been playing with a different partner instead of Jobling, his assistant at Morpeth, who was playing in the final for the first time. “My usual partner is Mark Ridley from South Moor,” Clark said. “We play regularly in this and the European one as well but we’ve never come close.
“He wasn’t able to play this year because it’s his wife’s 50th birthday and they’ve gone to Prague. After this, it looks as though he might have next year off as well!”
The Morpeth duo’s 62 was matched by Ponteland’s Richard Robson-Crosby and Andrew Scrimshaw (Close House) who finished in a tie for fifth place.
