Fawcett seals third Lombard Trophy final for Leng

Far Grange Golf Club amateur John Fawcett helped Darren Leng to his third Lombard Trophy final in the regional qualifying round at Fulford Golf Club.

Fawcett is a cancer sufferer but he produced some excellent golf as the East Yorkshire duo won in a tense finish at the York venue with three teams tying at the top of the leaderboard.

But it was Far Grange’s back nine that enabled them to edge through on countback ahead of Graeme Bell and Guy Henderson, of Eaglescliffe Golf Club, and Nathan Stead and Andreas Kkais, from Shipley Golf Club.

All three returned eight under par rounds of 64. But it was Far Grange who now travel to  Portugal for the £41,450, Coca-Cola and Pestana Resorts supported, National Pro-Am grand final which will be played at the Vila Sol resort in the Algarve between September 20-21.

And Leng said it was a special moment for retired 64-year-old Fawcett who still plays golf despite his health problems.

Fawcett, a former maintenance engineer from Leeds, plays off a 19-handicap.

“It meant a lot, particularly as John’s had cancer and he’s still battling with it now,” said Leng.

“He played so well and in the earlier stages of the round, it was him getting me out of trouble. He held it together.

“We made a great team on the day and he’s really looking forward to going to Portugal.”

Leng is a former champion in this competition and will be making a third appearance.

“I know the Vila Sol Resort well so I’ll be familiar with it. I’m looking forward going back to the final, it’s a great event,” he said.

“But it was very close at Fulford, I think we were better just by one shot on the back nine.

“I actually felt we were at least one shot short of where we needed to be if we were going to win it.

“It was fine margins in the end. I messed up at the end with a three putt at the eighth which was bogeyed. But we got our heads down after that and said we needed to get some birdies, which we did.

“John played some good golf coming in.”

For a full set of results from the regional final at Fulford Golf Club click here.

For more information about the 2018 Lombard Trophy competition click here.