Commentary.

 Kirkby Lonsdale was the beautiful setting for this year’s Matchplay Championship, which apart from a shower on the first morning of this 3 day event was blessed by sunshine and a bit of warmth. There was some concern about the retarded state of the greens due to the recent cold snap and rain, but the weather over the previous two days helped to bring the greens on. The first stage saw 57 golfers compete in the Medal 36 hole event to establish the 16 players
who would compete in the Knock-out stages. The morning round scores were headed by Martin Hand with a 69 with John Longcake ( Silloth) and William Bowe (Workington) carding 70s. The afternoon’s play resulted in a tie between Stephen Jopson (Carlisle) and James Atkinson ( Kendal) with 69s with Dan Park (Kendal) and John Longcake close behind on 70 . The top qualifying score was 140 by John Longcake with the 16th clocking in on 151.
In the first round of the knock-out, the first casualty was the defending champion John Longcake who was beaten 3&2 by Ernie Foster of Windermere. The local battle between Gareth Parry and Mike Turner saw the former go through by 2 holes after a tight game. Bowe had an early finish beating Barrow’s Brian Rhodes 8&7. County player Nick Bell survived a battle with Ulverston’s Simon Parkin which was not resolved till the 22nd hole.
In the second round , Ernie Foster continued to progress defeating local boy Gareth Parry on the 18th. Bowe and Jopson fought out a contest when there was never more than one in it , finishing on the 19th in Bowe’s favour. In the bottom half James Atkinson overcame the stubborn resistance of County colleague Geoff Nixon 3 &1, whilst Nick Bell saw of the County Vice-Captain Martin Hand 4 &3.
In the first Semi-Final , Will Bowe raced into a 4 hole lead against Ernie Foster, but Foster fought back on 12 & 13 to reduce the lead to 2. However Bowe sank a good putt on 14 to stop
the rot and he ran out winner by 3& 2. In 2nd Semi-Final, James Atkinson and Nick Bell fought it out tooth & nail in a titanic struggle which went to the 21st.
In the Final, Bowe set off with a birdie on the first and never looked back. All aspects of his game looked solid and hard as Atkinson tried, Bowe kept the momentum going securing 5 birdies in 14 holes as he ran out a 5 & 4 winner. He goes off to play in the Lagonda Trophy this week at Gog & Magog before turning out for Cumbria against Cheshire at Carlisle on Saturday.