Golf: Chris Hanson looks to build on season of success

Jan 2 2010 By John Martin

CHRIS HANSON will strive hard in 2010 to match his successes of the old year during which he proved the outstanding Huddersfield golfer.

Hanson, in his third full season as a professional, signed in with John Eyre at Woodsome Hall as a trainee and is undergoing PGA qualification, enjoyed a record setting campaign on the Yorkshire PGA circuit with back to back wins in major tournaments and also scored a major victory on the PGA North Region Tour.

That came in the Spirotech Manchester Open at Marriott Manchester where he shot 67 64 and finished six clear of former European Tour player Paul Eales, Neil Cheetham, another major tour man who later claimed the Yorkshire Open title, and Laurie Turner, a past Yorkshire PGA champion.

Hanson, who as an amateur at Crosland Heath won the Halifax, Huddersfield Union PS Cockroft Trophy, the stroke-play championship, then scored a Yorkshire first with successive major title wins.

He landed the Masters at Sandburn Hall by three shots from Adrian Ambler, the Walton Golf Centre man who later pipped him for the Order of Merit title, then added the Yorkshire Classic at Malton & Norton, finishing eight strokes clear of Ambler and Queensbury’s Gareth Murray.

Hanson, runnner-up in the Yorkshire match-play to Selby’s Nick Ludwell, also collected four pro-am wins including the ESG-Dubai event, played over two courses, Cottingham Parks and Skidby Lakes. That earned a trip to an event in Dubai which he also won.

Locally, Aaron Schnacke was the man of the year. The long-hitting Fixby player broke through by claiming the Union flagship event, the match-play crown, by 2&1 in a 36-hole final at Meltham against the host club’s Jamie Bower.

Dewsbury’s Mark Hepworth won the PS Cockroft Trophy, posting 71 68 to edge Fixby’s Richard Broadley, who carded 68 71, and lead the qualifiers for the match-play in which he reached the quarter-finals where he bowed to Schnacke.