Cornwall Golf Union
Greet Claims Second County Championship Win
CGU County Week 2024 culminated on Saturday 18th May with Jamie Greet securing his second Amateur Championship over his home course, a pristine Mullion Golf Club. Greet defeated George Law (Perranporth) in what started as a close match but in the end turned into a convincing win.
Law claimed the first of the 36 scheduled holes in the final with a par 3 after Greet missed the green left and failed to get up and down final. Greet was back on level terms after holing a putt for birdie at the 3rd before Law made a great sand save for a half in birdies at the 4th. The pair were all square through 8 holes before Law was forced to concede the 9th.
Another concession at the 10th followed by two pars from Greet at 11 & 12 saw him quickly go 4 up. There were then two halved holes before a birdie 3 for Greet at the 15th meant a 5 up lead which he consolidated with further wins at 17 and 18 going into lunch with a commanding 7 up lead.
To his credit Law took the first 3 holes in the afternoon session with a birdie 2 at the first followed by pars at 2 & 3. The lead for Greet was now reduced to 4 and for the neutral spectators a real fightback looked to be on the cards. Not so though as Law was unable to match Greet’s par at the 4th. It was now back to 5 up for Greet. Two pars for each player followed before Greet birdied the par 3 7th to make it 6 up. With holes running out the 8th was halved before Greet’s lead increased to 7 up at the par 5 9th with another birdie.
The difficult par 4 10th hole was halved, and Law was now under immense pressure as Greet found the putting surface at the par 3 11th hole. When Law went long and through the green the writing was on the wall for him. A severely downhill chip went long and when still to play next the likelihood was Greet was about to be crowned. When Law missed his putt for a 3, Greet calmly took his two putts to become Champion with an 8&7 victory. Greet’s win was understandably popular amongst a crowd of Mullion supporters and father Mark was quick onto the green spraying son Jamie with champagne.
At the prize presentation there was prolonged applause for Law who had demonstrated his prowess all week. Greet though, and again understandably, brought the biggest cheer in a crowded clubhouse. Greet simply described his feelings as ‘amazing’ and this popular 27-year-old has added to his pedigree in repeating the 2021 Championship win at Truro.
A summary of the week’s other events at Mullion.
Royal Cornwall Goblets Sunday 12th May
A field of 208 players took to the course in the 18 hole foursomes stableford. For nearly two hours the sun shone with a light breeze before a sea mist rolled in forcing an hours suspension of play. With play resumed topping the pile at the end of the day were the Lanhydrock pairing of Lee Fraser and Adam Khan who returned an excellent 40 points to pip Trevose G&CC Captain Andrew Elderfield and partner Graham Webb on 39, the latter pair no doubt ruing a no points score at the very last hole. In third spot were Ryan Conroy & Dominic Smith (Whitsand Bay) who led a pack of 4 pairs on the same 38 point score.
Seniors & Founders Cups Monday 13th May
Monday was a day of two halves with the morning’s heavy rain seeing some 33 players withdrawing. Nevertheless, 103 players competed across the day and out first in the Seniors Cup was home club member Gary Marlow who endured rain throughout his round from which he returned (dripping wet!) an excellent 37-point haul. Many would like to have seen this score rewarded but, in the end, a dry afternoon and some better scoring saw Marlow consigned to 4th place. It was a christian namesake as Gary ‘Chopper’ Marquand (Trethorne) scored 40 points to become the winner on countback from David Parsons (Bowood Park). Stephen Pennington (Cape Cornwall) was 3rd on 39 points.
Marquand was pressured into paying the additional fee to contend in the Founders Cup and his score saw him finish first there also. Parsons was again second and Daniel Allen (St Austell) third on 39 with countback pushing Pennington into 4th spot.
Royal Cornwall Challenge Cup Tuesday 14th May
Gary Marlow continued his rich vein of form as he partnered Kevin Toy to 45 points in the pairs betterball competition. In total 157 players took to the links and the nearest anyone got to the winning score was 41 from the Perranporth Chairman Graham Parkyn and partner Andrew Barton. Third spot was claimed by the West Cornwall duo of Jordan Musitano and Rob Lewis on 40.
Lawrance Cup Thursday 16th May
Owing to the matchplay stages of the Amateur Championship a reduced field of 53 took part in this competition. Leading the scoring was 2022 winner of the same competition, Michael Rooney (Porthpean). The previous win had come at parkland Tehidy but now Rooney proved himself an all rounder scoring 39 points to pip host club member Adrian Whittaker on 38. Third place went to Rooney’s clubmate Simon Hartley on 37.
Western Morning News Challenge Cup Friday 17th May
This ever popular three-man team competition, with two scores to count, saw 132 players enter the fray. Coming out on top were the West Cornwall trio of Nick Watters, Chris Maw and Edward Rowe who scored 82 points. Their total was just one better than two other pairs who were separated on countback with second spot going to Robert Casley, Alan Trerise, and Angus Mac Arthur, whilst third place went to Wilf Hutchinson, Mike Wigley, and Jonathan Turner. This competition also featured the week’s 4th hole in one and this time it was for Paul Davis (Budock Vean) at the par 3 7th.
The 2024 Cornwall Amateur Championship
Whilst you will already have read about the final there were three days of competition which preceded it, starting with the Wednesday 36-hole Stroke Play qualifier. 82 entrants were balloted to 72 for the qualifier with the cut off handicap index being 4.0.
From a gross perspective the top qualifier was Carlyon Bay’s Sam Crocker with rounds of 70 + 67 for a one under par total of 137. This was matched by second placed Matt Richards (West Cornwall) with 69 + 68 and 3rd placed Daniel Keyser (Newquay) with 66 + 71. Keyser’s was the best morning round. Best pm round went to Mullion’s Ed Sherlock who matched the 66. There were two holes in one on the qualifying day, the first for Lewis Bradley (St Enodoc) at the 8th and then for English Senior International Ian Ashenden (China Fleet) at the 7th. Mention should also be made of Looe's Andy Rowe. The County Seniors team member registered an afternoon 2 under par round of 67. Unfortunately for him it was added to a morning 81 which saw him just miss out on the matchplay stages - nonetheless a special round for 'evergreen'!
In the nett competition Max Gay (Carlyon Bay) was third with a total of 141 (71 + 70 for +3), second was Lewis Bradley on the same total (71 + 70) and winning on countback was Sam Crocker also on 141 (72 + 69).
There was no need for a play off to determine the top 32 players who proceeded to the first of the matchplay stages on the Thursday morning. In the top 32, one match went to extra holes as Crocker got the better of county team player Jared Mortimore at the 19th, whilst 6 other matches went to the final hole. 2023 Champion Louis Archer (St Enodoc) went out to Tom Stephens (Trevose) whilst Greet moved to a 4&3 win over fellow county team member Ethan Tempest (West Cornwall). The only consolation for Tempest was the third hole in one – this time at the par 3 11th.
Bradley departed at the hands of Chris ‘Chats’ Harris (Falmouth) and Newquay’s Jon Hancock was beaten by Neil Rowlands (Trevose). Biggest morning win came for Keyser as he despatched Max Stockwell 5&3. Law got through by 2 holes over Mullion’s early morning working greenkeeper Lindsey Dale whilst county stalwart Rob MacGregor (Tehidy Park) got the better of George Champion(Truro). Other county team members Kieran Faulkner and Matt Richards had wins over Kyle Fraser (Mullion) and Joshua Small (Carlyon Bay) respectively.
So, into the final 16. Crocker had a ding dong match with Harris before losing at the first extra hole. Harris was moving along nicely. Greet now faced Ashenden and ran out a 4&3 winner with Ashenden heaping compliments on the quality of the player he had faced. 2022 Champion Justin Barnard (Tehidy Park) left at the hands of another moving along well in Rowlands (3&2). Somewhat surprisingly Stephens went out 2&1 to Max Gay whilst Law cruised to a 4&3 win over Keyser. Faulkner defeated West Cornwall Course Manager Lawrie Tremlett by one hole and Richards thumped an out of sorts Alec Nile (Carlyon Bay) 6&4. Match of the day though was between MacGregor and James Ruddick (Perranporth). MacGregor had been three up through 13 but Ruddick dug deep and levelled the match at the 18th. The pair then proceeded, in great spirit throughout to trade blows as far as the 6th extra hole where Ruddick made a birdie three to move into the last eight.
On the Friday morning Greet beat Harris 2&1 whilst Rowlands despatched Gay by 4&3. In the other half of the draw Law saw off Ruddick 3&2 and Faulkner beat Richards by the odd hole.
The semi-finals were thus set with Greet v Rowlands and Law v Faulkner. Both were very close matches and required extra time. Greet was taken to the 21st before running out the winner and Law got past Faulkner at the 19th. And so to the aforementioned final.
A Team Club Championship Saturday 18th May
Two semi-finals took place on the Saturday morning. In the first of these Newquay beat Bowood Park 2-1 with the deciding match resolved at the 19th hole. In the other Perranporth beat Carlyon Bay by the same 2 -1 margin.
Bowood Park were represented by Jon Rowe, James Taylor, Simon Hobbs, Davey Tilley, Max Stockwell and Mark Johnson, and Carlyon Bay by Sam Crocker, Joshua Small, Max Gay, Mark Blaber, Ben Armstrong and Martin Quantick.
The afternoon final between Newquay and Perranporth saw the former run out 2 – 1 winners and it was they who picked up the largest (literally) of the trophies the CGU possess.
Newquay were represented in both matches by Adam Herman, Dan Keyser, Ian Veale, Jon Hancock, Tom Savage and Tommy Miller whilst the Perranporth team comprised Rob Cook, Dean Tulley, Conor Wilson, Sandy Kirton, James Ruddick and Adam Taylor.
B Team Club Championship Saturday 18th May
Similarly, two semi-finals took place on the Saturday morning. In the first of these Budock Vean beat Bude 2 – 1 and in the other Truro repeated this scoreline against Falmouth.
Bude were represented by Mark Jenkins, Tony Blatchford, Conor Cann, Joel Davey, Graham Richards and Matt Mansbridge, whilst Falmouth’s team was Luke Geach, Callum Davis, Will Sercombe, Nick Hodges, Rob Connolly and Chris North.
The final ended in a 2 – 1 Budock Vean win with the deciding match going to the 20th hole.
The winning Budock Vean team was Ashley Jackson, David Allen, Brian Fellows, Ian Hazzledine, Tony Friday and John Bulley, whilst Truro were represented by Dean Harris, Simon Bray, Andy Watson, Rich Wild, and Grant & Jacob Champion.
Presentations
At the end of week Prize Presentation Mullion Golf Club Captain Richard Simpson addressed a crowded clubhouse and welcomed everyone before saying what an honour it had been for the club to host the Cornwall Golf Union. He thanked all those who had contributed to what had been a very enjoyable week. He singled out Course Manager Gordon Tamblyn - an ever present for the past 39 years – for the work he and his small team had undertaken and the magnificent condition they had prepared the course in.
CGU President Martin Edwards repeated many of the same thanks on behalf of the Union and made mention of the excellent hospitality the club had proved with great service and first-class fayre. He too praised the greenkeeping staff and thanked everyone for their respective inputs. He said it had been an excellent week capped by crowning a very worthy champion in Jamie Greet.
Simpson and Edwards presented the prizes.
South West Team Announcement
Cornwall County Captain Peter Simmons announced his team for the upcoming South West Counties Golf Association Championship at East Devon GC in early June. SW Week debuts are awarded to Sam Crocker and George Law and the rest of Team Cornwall are Tom Stephens, Matt Richards, Rob MacGregor, Jamie Greet, Ethan Tempest, Louis Archer, Kieran Faulkner, Adam Bridgewater, and Jared Mortimore.
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