Studley Wood is a Sell out For Martin

Our best friend of 2012, the rain, followed us to Studley Wood and arrived just in time to greet the first group to tee off on day one.

The course looked a picture, with U.S. Open style "Whistling Straits" rough framing the manicured fairways that led the players to the usual perfect putting surfaces.

With the wind sweeping across the course driving the rain horizontally into the player's faces it was never going to be a low scoring day.

Indeed only six players bested the par of 73 and at the head of proceedings was former European Tour player Nick Lawrence who carded a very solid 3 under par 70.

One shot behind on 72 sat Martin Sell, Joe Ferguson and Ben Martin, all of whom worked hard for their scores in the very tough conditions.

The second day was going to be test of endurance for all the players and it was going to be the one who could grind out a score that would win, or would someone find the key to unlock a low score and race through the pack?

With dreadful weather forecasted on the second day, we decided to start earlier in order to complete the tournament, a battle we seem to have at every event during this awful summer.

An early indicator that the scoring would be better for the second round was provided by Ryan Harrison who carded a 5 under par 68 to take the early clubhouse lead on level par.

Not long after, Stuart Runcie raised the bar a notch to 1 under par for the tournament, scoring a seemingly modest 2 under par 71 that actually included two very rare birds in a row.

Runcie was plodding along on 2 over par with 2 holes to play when an Eagle on seventeen was immediately followed by another on the eighteenth! Wow!

The clubhouse lead changed hands fairly rapidly from then on with Myles Pearson and John Chamberlain on 2 under par, then immediately afterwards Joe Smoothy took over with 3 under par.

The battle for the title was now within the last group and it was Swindon's Martin Sell who had the bit between his teeth. After the front nine of 3 under par, he established a 2 shot cushion over Lawrence who could only manage level par for the outward nine holes.

Sell then slipped into "Mr Par" mode for the next 5 holes that allowed Lawrence to reduce the deficit to one with a birdie on the thirteenth.

Sell finally woke up and birdied the fifteenth whilst Lawrence bogied it and Sell now had a more comfortable 3 shot advantage going into the final three holes.

Lawrence got one back on the sixteenth with a birdie 2 but with two par fives to finish there was no way back for Lawrence barring a disaster from Sell.

No dramas ensued and Sell, with his faithful caddy Paul, on the bag, birdied both of them to shoot a fabulous 6 under par 67 for an 8 under par winning score of 138 and a winners cheque for £4,000.

Lawrence fought all the way to the last and his disappointment at finishing second was plain to see but a cheque for £2,000 soon cheered him up!

A big thanks you to Ken and all his staff at Studley Wood for looking after us during 2 difficult days when nothing was too much trouble for them.

A fantastic golf course coupled with un-rivalled hospitality must put Studley Wood on the radar of golfers far and wide as a "must visit" golf course.

The Seve designed Shire will be busy as always, so get your entry in and paid for by Friday to guarantee your place next week.