First pro win for Baker

Brean assistant Roy Baker achieved his maiden professional win, shooting a two-under-par 68 over his home course to claim the first Gloucester and Somerset PGA medal of the winter season. 

It was very much a case of local knowledge coming to the fore at the North Somerset course, as he shared the win with the club’s director of golf David Haines – the region’s PGA board member and former chairman.

Baker made birdies at the second, fifth, 11th and 12th before racking up a double bogey when he found one of Brean’s many water hazards at the 13th. He followed with a birdie four and chipped in for another the last.   

Haines played in the final group and made seven pars, a birdie at the fifth and a bogey at the treacherous seventh. On the way home he gained shots at the 10th, 14th and 16th to offset his only bogey at the 13th.

The club’s head professional Andrew March, the Gloucester and Somerset PGA chairman, would have made it a three-way tie for home players had his birdie attempt at the last not lipped out.

March took great credit from the day, rejigging the start times to ensure the tournament could proceed after a traffic collision closed the M5 and threatened to cause irreparable damage to the schedule.

Yet on the course he had to settle for a share of third with matchplay champion Giuseppe Licata (Bristol Golf Centre).

Last year’s winner Rod Hibbitt (Cotswold Edge) returned level-par 70 to claim fifth place and also take the birdie sweep with five.