Licata the new Match Play champion

Giuseppe Licata has completed a double by adding the Wormald and Partners Gloucestershire and Somerset PGA match play title to the strokeplay championship he won earlier in the season.

The Bristol Golf Centre professional (above) ended Cirencester’s Ed Goodwin quest for a hat trick of wins with a 4 & 2 victory in the final at Chipping Sodbury Golf Club.

Licata always held the upper hand as the pair traded birdies throughout the front nine and he rounded the match off on the 16th hole with his fourth birdie to claim his second match play title after previously winning in 2010.

The top 16 players from the two counties qualified. Top seed Goodwin opened with a 2 & 1 win over Pat Baker (Mendip Spring). He then reached the semi-finals by beating Nick Ellis (Naunton Downs) 5 & 4, who defeated Kevin Pitts (Mendip) in the opener.

Paul Deeprose (Halstock Driving Range) beat Nigel Warburton (Knowle) at the 20th hole before losing 3 & 2 to Rod Hibbitt (Cotswold Edge) who earlier overcame Tom Duke (Filton) by one hole.

Licata gained a walkover as fellow Bristol Golf Centre player Paul Ryder was held up in traffic and missed his tee time.  He has never had a quieter day for he dispatched David Haines (Brean) – conqueror of host club’s Robin Goodey by 4 & 3 in the first round - on the 13th in the afternoon.

Daryl Kelley, back from a long-standing injury following a cycling accident, won the all Filton tie against Matt Carter by 3 & 2 before losing 4 & 3 to G&S PGA chairman Andrew March who had earlier edged out Shane Kaye (Burnham and Berrow) by one hole.

After a fog delay on the second day Goodwin beat his close pal Hibbitt by 2 & 1 for his 11th successive match play win in the first semi.

Licata forged ahead at the sixth against March, won the ninth as well and went on to close the match 4 & 2 to leave the two top seeds to contest the final.