Golf
County glory for ace Warbrick

Buy photos » Double delight: Tom Warbrick shows off both of his honours won on Monday. (s)

ALCESTER'S Tom Warbrick is celebrating after winning the Worcestershire Professional Golfers Association 36-hole Strokeplay Championship, which was played at Kings Norton Golf Club on Monday.

The 20-year-old is a professional golfer who works for and represents The Vale Golf Club, based in Pershore, and prevailed from the 30-strong field.

In testing conditions Warbrick played two excellent rounds of golf, as he bounced back in the morning round from a double bogey on the second hole when his ball appeared to hit a greenside sprinkler head and shoot into a water hazard.

He fought his way back from this setback with attacking golf which led to two birdies in the next seven holes and he turned in level par.

Holing a 20-feet birdie putt on the tenth seemed to inspire Warbrick and give him more confidence to attack the flags on firm and speedy greens.

He approached the morning 18th tee at one under par and hit two great shots on to the par five 18th which led to an eagle opportunity, which he rolled in from 15 feet to shoot a three under par opening round 69.

This gave Warbrick a three-shot lead against the field after the morning 18 holes.

In the afternoon the wind picked up considerably and the Alcester man's putter then deserted him for a while, resulting in dropping three shots in the first four holes after lunch.

However, his confidence did not dwindle, and he stuck to his gameplan and continued to play attacking golf, which culminated in him hitting three birdies and one bogey on the remaining 14 holes, enabling him to shoot a one over par 73.

Warbrick's excellent score of 142 - two under par - ensured he won the Worcestershire Professional Championship by a winning margin of four shots and this score also ensured Warbrick won the Assistant Professional Strokeplay Championship, which was held within the same tournament.

Warbrick now holds the Assistant Professional Strokeplay title and the Assistant Matchplay title, which he won in 2011 and is in the final of again in 2012.

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