18th Bell Rings For Graeme

The Eaglescliffe (Stockton-on-Tees) pro left the field in his wake in the Glenmuir Club Professional Championship with a five-under 66, polishing off the par-five 18th by hitting his 106-yard third shot into the hole for an eagle that hoisted him to a three-shot victory over Ganton's Gary Brown.

Said Graeme "I thought the fairway was a bit tight with bunkers and gorse bushes so I hit a high rescue club off the tee, then the same club again. I was really only playing for a par because I'd seen a leaderboard showing Gary's 69 as being the best score in. Then my pitching wedge shot landed past the hole and spun back into it. You couldn't ask for more than that!"

This was only his fourth outing this season, and his Selby show will certainly erase from his mind what he thought had been a winning score at Dunstanbrough recently until he recalled on the way home that he'd signed for a wrong score, and promptly disqualified himself.

Now Graeme leads 13 other qualifiers to the 72-hole Glenmuir final at Royal Porthcawl from June 12-15, when the winner picks up not only £10,000 but an automatic place in the PGA Cup match (the club pros' version of the Ryder Cup) against the United States in Georgia in September. Bell was a member of the GB&I team which lost in Florida four years ago.

Brown, who this year celebrates 25 years as a professional at Ganton Golf Club, was also in sparkling form, signing for a two-under 69 to take second place.

He was somewhat relieved to have turned in such a fine round. "I've been struggling on the greens, "he confessed, "And after taking three putts at the first I thought my troubles would continue."

But birdies at the second and third settled the former PGA North Region captain, and a further gain at the 328-yard ninth had him out in 34, two under. A birdie and a bogey on the inward nine completed his day's work, and he now looks forward to playing in the Royal Porthcawl final.

"I've played a lot of great British courses but never that one -so I'm really looking forward to taking it on."

Gary was particularly pleased with his tee shot at the long 14th. "I'm using one of these new Titleist D2 drivers; I've had it for a week, and I never like playing that hole at Selby - bunkers down the left, bushes on the right - but it went straight and long, really satisfying."