New prince challenges King Richard
31/01/2014
Held at former Open venue Prince’s, two fine winners emerged from two separate and weather-defying events that opened the Winter Series for 2014, supported by Titleist and FootJoy.
Richard Wallis (Walmer & Kingsdown) showed he’ll continue to be a force to be reckoned with for 2014, looking for his potential fifth Virgin Atlantic Little Red PGA South Order of Merit in a row, while Mark Hillson (Tandridge) proved he could well be one of the challengers.
In the first event Hillson, winner of the Winter Series event at Hankley Common last November, shot a flawless four-under-par round of 67 around the Prince’s Shore-Dunes course to take the top prize. Hillson’s score outshone the two-under-par 70 of runner-up Scott Stevens (Staplehurst) on a day when the strong wind was making shotmaking very challenging.
Out in one-under-par with a birdie at the second and a string of solid pars through the severe cross winds, Hillson fired off three more birdies at the 10th, the 15th and the 18th to finish the round in 67 blows. Hillson’s boss at Tandridge, Chris Evans, rates his young protégée highly.
He said: “Mark’s got some serious talent, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he really starts to make his mark this year in some bigger events.”
As Hillson had already bagged his at Hankley, local Royal Cinque Ports assistant Ben Talbot took the valuable leading assistant prize of the ball, glove and shoe contract, courtesy of keen long term supporter Titleist & FootJoy.
Day two saw incessant rain yet the Sandwich links stood up surprisingly well, although the format was changed to two rounds of nine holes over the Dunes nine as some tees on the Shore were inaccessible.
It made no difference to Wallis who still showed the field a clean pair of heels, shooting an excellent one-under-par 70 in even tougher conditions than the day before.
Wallis’s sub-par performance was too hot for runners up Tom Gamble (Burhill) and man-in-form Hillson, who both shot scores of 73. Gamble took the sponsor’s spoils for the day with their ball, glove and shoe contract for the season ahead.
Hillson was full of praise for the Prince’s course, saying: “The course conditions on the first day were amazingly good considering all the rain there had been, especially the greens which were good, firm and fast. I’ve done a lot of work on my game since Hankley and played really well with just two greens missed and a couple of good up and downs that I left stone dead.”
Hillson’s aiming higher in 2014, commenting: “I’m hoping to qualify in May, and I’m trying to get as much golf in as I can. I’m going to compete in more of the regional and Order of Merit events in 2014, and see if I can give Richard a bit of a run for his money!”
