The season’s premier individual event, the Halifax, Huddersfield and District Union Matchplay Final, went down to the wire this year.
The match between Huddersfield’s Brad Tupman and Bradley Park’s Edward Battye was described as “an absolute cracker” by spectators at Saddleworth.
After 35 holes, the tussle was still in the balance, with Tupman battling for all he was worth, having been two down with three holes to play.
In the end he stormed home to a victory of 1up to claim the prestigious JR Crawshaw Memorial Trophy.
After an excellent performance, Battye had reason to feel hard done by, as two vital putts from the last four holes lipped out.
The one on the 18th was especially hard to swallow as, had it gone in, it would have forced an extra hole play-off.
The morning 18 holes was a tight affair with Battye holding a one-hole lead, which he increased to three in the afternoon session. But Tupman came fighting back to claw level on the 35th hole before producing his final winning putt, which Battye conceded after it finished on the edge of the hole.
Tupman had beaten Meltham’s Graham McLean 2&1 in the previous afternoon’s semi-final, while Battye secured victory over West End’s Steve Martin by the same margin. The Saturday morning quarter-final sessions saw Andy Whitworth, Matthew Colcombe, Sam Town and James Ward losing, with Ward’s match going to the 22nd hole.
It was a double for Huddersfield as Josh Morton beat Crosland Heath’s Jon Fleetwood 7&6 in the Junior Matchplay 36-hole final.
