Hetherington too hot to handle at King’s Lynn

Five birdies and an eagle lifted Paul Hetherington to the top of the leader board in the highly competitive King’s Lynn pro-am.

The Great Hadham Golf and Country Club pro carded a six-under-par 66 in heat-wave conditions to beat Stuart Brown (Orton Meadows) by a single shot.

Brown, who has been in consistent form with recent pro-am successes at Maylands, Bedford and County, had five birdies and no dropped shots.

Third place at four under par was shared by Glen Kemble (Direct Golf) and Chase Davis of Stapleford Abbotts. Although Davis works in Essex he played all his amateur golf in Norfolk.

Lee Patterson (Royal Cromer) was three under. Norfolk colleagues Ian Ellis (Costessey Park) and Caroline Grady (De Vere Dunston Hall) were two-under-par together with Andrew George (Ely City) and Mark Hooper (Rayleigh Golf Range).

To complete the 11 players from a field of 34 under par were Lawrence Dodd (Bury Golf Range) and Noel Quinn (Whipsnade Park) with one under. There were five eagles including one from Hooper at the 377 yard 18^th hole.

Ellis brought in the winning team of Bob Brown, Bob Murray and Sally Bettinson with 17 under par 127 – one shot clear of the nearest challengers.

Hooper, with John Rudd, Jeremy Jones and David Israel were runners-up, while Paul Godfrey, Eddie Peggs and Neil Jary were third with 130.