Marchy Fires A New Course Record

Graeme MarchbankGraeme Marchbank, the man his fellow team players affectionately refer to as 'The Youth', pulled out all the stops and eclipsed the field when he fired a new course record of 65 in the first round of the Club Championship. Graeme followed this with a second round 74 to win the title by a comfortable 6 shots.

It was his first round performance that everyone was talking about though, a round that counted an amazing 9 birdies, including 6 in a row from the 11th to the 16th hole.

It topped off a tremendous weekend for Graeme, who led the field in the County Clubs Championship qualifying round with a three under par 69 at Dinsdale Spa and took his handicap back to plus one. In the County Clubs final Marchbank was part of the three-man team along with Andrew Bell and Chris Park that finished 2nd to Whickham by two shots at Ryton GC, with a team total of 477 for the combined 6 rounds.

It was a case of ‘you can't win them all’ when Marchy also finished runner-up in the County Matchplay Championship, a title he has won twice previously. In a tight final, Lee McCavanagh of Woodham edged his way past Graeme after halving the eighteenth in birdies, with a further birdie at the first extra hole.

On the up side, Graeme currently leads the County Order of Merit, a title he has also won twice previously. We wish him well in his pursuit of a third COM title and doff our caps to a man who knocked it round Littleburn in 65 blows to win a fourth Club Championship.