Norfolk PGA praise for Swaffham Golf Club following first pro-am

The very first pro-am by Norfolk's professional association was held at Swaffham Golf Club and saw 22 teams of four competing.

Even host trainee Nic Cains had problems on the front nine but did come back in three under par for a score of 73 which gave him second place and he pipped Caroline Grady (Dunston Hall) and Colin Williams (Fakenham) by one shot.

However, the winner, and establishing himself as an early order of merit leader, was Jason Groat of Denver Golf Centre who returned a level par 71.

The winning team was brought in by Tom Clements (Eaton) with a score of 13 under par. Nearest the pin was Darren Masters and longest drive was Harry Bailey.

Norfolk PGA secretary, John Paling, said: 'The course has shown great improvements over the past few years and it is a little gem worth the visit.

'The men's par is 71 and only one golfer achieved that so it demonstrated that the course has to be taken seriously, because some of the stars in our county struggled on some of the testing holes.'

Team: 1 Tom Clements with David Thomas, Phil Sayers & Mark Taylor, 129; 2 Alex Beckett (Bawburgh) with Harry Bradfield, Scott Grev-Hardy & Darren Reeve, 131; 3= Ryan Pudney (Mundesley) with Paul Ellis, Donald Stuart & Dave Crosby, 134; Sam Cubitt (Dunston Hall) with Scott Seally, John Pearce & Ashley Hornt, 134.

Professionals: 1 Jason Groat, 71; 2 Nic Cains, 73; 3= Caroline Grady & Colin Williams, 74.

• Elsewhere, 12 seniors from Richmond Park GC went over to Feltwell GC for a friendly match.

The weather was very much better than it had been when being beaten by Diss and Swaffham and Richmond came away with a win, four-and-a-half to one-and-a-half.

The next match will be against Middleton Hall.