BRADLEY HALL legend Andy Whitworth will be bidding to extend his own remarkable record in the Halifax, Huddersfield Union Matchplay Championship tomorrow, when he tackles Huddersfield’s Brad Tupman in the 2011 final at Bradley Park.
Whitworth will be bidding for an incredible ELEVENTH title if he can overcome the challenge posed by the Fixby golfer.
And it will certainly not be an inconsiderable challenge when he comes up against two-handicapper Tupman, who is now an ever-present in the Halifax, Huddersfield Union’s Inter-District team, and was part of Fixby’s Scratch Championship-winning team last year.
Tupman, at the age of 33 , has the benefit of ‘youth’ on his side – with a 17-year age gap between the two players – and has been in good form this season, finishing fourth in the Union’s Order of Merit with 27 points from seven games.
But with age comes experience, and Whitworth can count on a welter of that, as he first came to prominence with victory in the Union’s Jubilee Trophy (awarded to the leading junior in the PS Cockroft Trophy) as far back as 1977.
The Bradley Hall player, who this season has been hovering between the scratch and plus-one handicap mark, then went on to land his first Union Matchplay title in 1983.
As well as going on to pick up the Union’s principal prize on nine further occasions – the last coming in 2006 – Whitworth has also represented the Union with great distinction on countless occasions down the years and has also captained and managed the Halifax, Huddersfield team.
No other golfer has ever got anywhere near Whitworth’s incredible list of Matchplay honours, the ‘best of the rest’ being John Crawshaw (in whose memory the competition is now being played), Cliff Hartland, PS Cockroft and, going back into the 1950s, Malcolm Lee, all of whom won the tournament on a mere four occasions!
Even before tomorrow’s showdown, Whitworth’s record is almost certainly never going to be matched, such has been his domination.
He definitely had the easiest passage into this year’s final, having been gifted a place into the semis when his quarter-final opponent, Crow Nest Park’s Ben Adamson, had to withdraw because of work commitments, but the Bradley Hall golfer had to work hard in his semi-final before just getting the better of Willow Valley’s Tom Calvert, winning by one hole.
By contrast, Tupman had two potentially-difficult ties on his route to the final, firstly beating Adamson’s Crow Nest teammate Nathan Scott 3&1 in the quarter-finals and then defeating Huddersfield’s Tom Williams 4&3 in the semis.
The 36-hole final, sponsored by BM Howarth, gets under way at 10.00am with the afternoon rounds set to start at approximately 2.00pm.
The Union Championship is followed by the Junior Matchplay Championship (sponsored by Cartridge World) which is an all-Calderdale affair between West End’s Brad Hardcastle and Halifax’s Jamie Smith.
Outlane staged the Union’s Scratch, Handicap and Junior Foursomes finals, played over 36 holes, where Frank Greaves and Dave Stafford, from Halifax West End, took the Scratch Trophy following their 6&4 victory over Huddersfield duo Brad Tupman and Aaron Schnacke.
The Handicap Trophy went to Willow Valley pairing Nick Hartley and Stephen Henry, who defeated Woodsome Hall’s Mark Tyzzer-Smith and Andy McLaughlin 5&4, while in the Junior competition, Brad Hardcastle drew first blood in his battle with Jamie Smith, when he partnered West End’s Joe Stott to a resounding 9 & 8 win over Smith and Ogden teammate Connah Judson.