James Webber secures first victory in fine style

Long and wet best described the first day at the par 74 International Course at The Vale Golf Club near Pershore, set in the Vale of Evesham. Wet referred to the weather, ” long” best described the length of time it took the competitors to complete the golf course!

With a par of 74 very few players were managing to get into the sixties and for some while and it was not until the later starters began to come in that par was breached.

Jordan Smith, Myles Pearson, Rob Bardsley and Stuart Hemming started to find a way to undo the par each of them carding one under par 73’s to briefly lead.

The James boys, David and Lee, stole their thunder and assumed the lead with 2 under par 72’s. Their pomp only lasted for minutes as the last group arrived at the scorers desk with first Ian Winstanley carding a 71, then Paul Streeter bettered that with a 4 under par 70 but at last James Webber broke into the sixties with a 5 under par 69 to lead going into the second day.

A breezier day greeted the players for the second day and it was James Ablett who set an early target of 3 under par scoring a fine 69 but with the final group all going deeper into par it looked an unlikely winning total. Kris Jones, Mark Hooper, John Banbury and David James soon joined Ablett.

Stuart Hemming set a realistic target at 5 under par adding a solid 70 to his first round but with the leaders playing unfaltering golf it was not going to be good enough. In the last group Ian Winstanley and Paul Streeter, although playing good attacking golf, could only watch as James Webber continued to match all they could throw at him.

Webber continued to march on remorselessly and even had the luxury of being able to score a rare bogey at the last and still win by 3 shots adding a second 5 under par to his first round effort. Streeter (71) and Winstanley (70) shared second place on 7 under par each winning £1,750 however it was James Webber who took the well deserved first place cheque for £5,000.

The Vale International is a picturesque golf course offering stunning greens to putt on and manicured fairways to hit from.The hospitality is boundless and with fairly priced food and drink it offers an excellent golfing destination for players of every standard.