Golf: Ben Sharp takes Examiner Matchplay title

Sep 29 2009 by David Lockwood, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

SHARP-SHOOTER!

TWENTY-two-year-old Ben Sharp was the toast of Wortley Golf Club members after winning the prestigious Examiner Matchplay title over the broad acres of Meltham’s Thick Hollins course.

In a tremendous final, which went down the 19th after Sharp and his opponent Longley Park’s Tommy Ward finished all square after 18, the six-handicapper from the Sheffield club, produced a solid par at the first extra hole to claim a memorable victory.

And that not only gave the Professional Golf Adviser, who works for Direct Golf UK at the Stadium Driving Range, the title, but with it the first prize of a week’s golfing holiday to Benidorm on Spain’s Costa Blanca in November.

It was a great win for the youngest of the four players in the final, and one which he richly deserved after coming back from dormie two down in the morning’s semi-final clash with Chris Holmes from the host club.

Sharp was staring defeat in the face when he stepped onto the par three 17th tee, but he then found the green with his drive, while Holmes missed it, and conceded the hole to a par.

But when the Meltham man put his second shot to the front edge of the green on the 18th, and Sharp fired his into the fringe wide right, it looked all over.

But the youngster stepped up and ‘canned’ his third stroke for a birdie, while Holmes saw his putt slide just past the hole to force ‘extra time’.

Both players landed their second shot on the green at the first, but it was Sharp who sank his 10-footer to complete back-to-back birdies and book a spot in the final.

Meanwhile, in the second semi, Fixby’s Jonny Heyes – like Holmes playing in his third Examiner finals day – led Ward by three holes at one stage, and looked set to progress to the afternoon’s main event.

But Ward, a former winner of the Examiner’s Overseas Challenge in Portugal, is not a man to be underestimated, and with the benefit of seven strokes over Heyes he gradually fought back to level the match at the long par four 15th and then also won the 16th.

However, probably his best shot came at the par three 17th when (with another stroke advantage) he missed the green to the right but then chipped over the bank and left it ‘stone dead’ for a gross three nett two, which left Heyes who had found the green, needing to hole out from 20-odd feet to send the match to the 18th, which he was unable to do.

Conversely, the afternoon’s final was completely the opposite.

Having won the opening hole with a good par, Ward held the upper hand for much of the round, although he was never able to get beyond a two-hole lead, hampered by a number of missed putts which, had he holed them, would have taken him out of sight.

Sharp levelled the match at the second, halved the third, but then found himself two down as Ward knocked in back-to-back pars at the fourth and fifth and with shots to come on the sixth and seventh seemed set to open up a crucial gap.

However, Sharp hit two ‘screamers’ at the 503-yard par five sixth and came away with a birdie and a win, only to go two down again at the seventh.