Golf - 'Sunny' start to season for Kendal golfer (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Golf - 'Sunny' start to season for Kendal golfer

11:36am Thursday 24th March 2011 in Sport

KENDAL golfer James Atkinson was celebrating winning a top national title this week after a tense final-hole finish.

After seven rounds of golf over four days, Atkinson (Kendal Golf Club) and Sebastian Crookall-Nixon (Workington Golf Club) became the Sunningdale Foursomes Champions for 2011.

The tournament, first played in 1934, has become one of the most prestigious events in the calendar and previous winners include Ryder Cup stars Luke Donald, Ross Fisher and Sam Torrance.

It underlines what a magnificent performance it was by the Cumbrians out of an entry of 128 pairs that included some of the country's best amateur players and a considerable number of professionals, including quite a few from the European Tour.

On their long road to their notable triumph, they came across seasoned European Tour duo Philip Golding and Jamie Little in the quarter-finals and beat them 3 and 2.

They saw off the challenge of two more professionals in the semi-finals in Jamie Harris and Lewis Atkinson by 2up.

The final brought them up against Haley Davies and Scott Godfrey and it proved to be a very close match, going down to the last hole with Sebastian holing a 40-foot putt to win 1up and clinch the title.

Atkinson was so convinced that he was not going to get to the final, he left his jacket and tie at home and had to borrow one from a Sunningdale member.

Now playing off a handicap of scratch, Atkinson joined Kendal Golf Club as a junior member in 1999.

He progressed to become a regular member of the Cumbria County Team.