Staverton Park’s Miles Mudge says the key to his success in the 2012 County Championship was his chipping and putting after a four-stroke victory at Overstone Park.
The 20-year-old was in sublime touch in and around the greens on a blustery day as he fired rounds of 70 and 69 to finish clear of Wellingborough’s Kyson Lloyd.
Mudge, who also lifted the net title and collected the Braid’s Driver as the leading young golfer, said: “The chipping and putting went really well – it was massive.
“I holed a lot of up-and-downs and the occasional long putt went in, which changes your score.
“My driver was pretty solid all day but I think I only had one three-putt and that was after a long first putt so I didn’t mind that too much.”
Former champion Paul Hodgkiss (Farthingstone) took third place on countback from Ryan Connolly (Wellingborough) on level par.
With pre-event favourite Ryan Evans finishing in fifth spot on 145, Wellingborough collected the team honours for the second year running.
Northamptonshire’s Charley Hull played an important role in Great Britain and Ireland’s one point victory over the USA in the Curtis Cup as the trophy returned to these shores for the first time since 1996.
The highest ranked golfer in either team was surprisingly left out of the foursomes on the first morning of the event at Nairn Golf Club in Scotland as the hosts lost all three games.
The world number five came in for the Friday fourballs in partnership with Scotland’s Pam Pretswell but despite shooting the best score of any GB&I combination they were beaten 4&3.
Hull and Pretswell were unlucky to come up against another in-form US duo, Amy Anderson and Tiffany Lua, in the Saturday foursomes as they lost on the 16th hole.
After sitting out the afternoon fourballs, when the hosts won two of the three ties to leave the match evenly poised at 6½-5½ to the US, Hull was given a late tee time in the final day singles against Lindy Duncan.
And the plus-four handicapper didn’t let the side down as she bagged three birdies in her first seven holes to go three up, before closing out a 5&3 victory by taking four out of five holes from the 11th.
Hull’s win gave Stephanie Meadows the chance to seal victory minutes later as she beat Anderson 4&2 to ensure the Curtis Cup, Solheim Cup, Walker Cup and Ryder Cup are on this side of the Atlantic for the first time in history.