Ian Cook won the Morocco Matchplay singles in dramatic style - after being four down at the turn he found himself all square on the last hole to clinch it with an up and down from the greenside bunker!
Ian Cook won the Morocco Matchplay singles in dramatic style - after being four down at the turn he found himself all square on the last hole to clinch it with an up and down from the greenside bunker!
Ian, an eight-handicapper from Hessle GC, in Hull, beat Brookmans Park's John Dewberry. It was just reward for the 44-year-old surveyor who had won each of his previous four matches during a week played out in glorious sunshine in Morocco, on both of the Royal Dar es Salam courses - Blue and Red - and the Tony Jacklin Casablanca.
He said: "I'm still shaking now to be honest. It's unbelievable. Everything about the event and the week out here has been top notch. We've had a ball. And to play a championship course like this has been really good.
"It's my first time in Morocco and it's a great place for winter golf. There was a tweet from my home club this morning saying something about the course is now open - it had been closed - but there is still snow in places. Yet here we are in shorts and short-sleeve shirts and I'm going home with a title!"
Ian Cook lines up the winning putt
Three other titles were also decided at the grand final, with previous winners Garry Catt and Eileen McMullen (top photograph) from Richmond GC (Yorks), regaining the mixed title they last won two years ago in Portugal.
Catt, who plays off a handicap of one, said: "I'm a competitive golfer and it's a very competitive event throughout, especially this year, when you've had to play home and away matches - and the away matches went right to the wire. It was a really good format, very testing, very much like the final. You get drawn into competitive golf from the very first ball you hit.
"On Tuesday our caddy disappeared for 10 minutes into the trees and came back out and said ‘I'm a father!' - so we've had a baby! He'd been going to the hospital in the morning and coming here at midday for us. And we were so friendly with him this week we could be God-parents …" he laughed.
Hart Common GC's Jack Crompton and Terry Battersby took the open pairs title as golfers from the north of the country dominated. But in the seniors pairs, the title headed to Essex and Stock Brook Manor GC, courtesy of Steve Adkins, 52, and Robert Turner, 58, who impressed from the first tee-off.
In total thirty finalists enjoyed complimentary return flights to Morocco; six-nights' accommodation at the five-star L'Amphitrite Palace hotel, in Skhirat; and five rounds of golf, at both the prestigious Royal Golf Dar Essalam, which hosted the last Moroccan Open in 2001, and returns to the Tour in 2016, and the Tony Jacklin Casablanca.
The trip to the grand final was reward for battling through local rounds and a regional final during 2014, in competitions open to any golfer who is a member of an affiliated club with an officially recognised handicap.
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