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Littlestone Golf Club have been celebrating a notable double success in the English Men’s Seniors Championship.
England international Chris Reynolds (pictured) won the title and the runner-up was fellow Littlestone member Andrew Stracey.
The championship was played over two courses in Hertfordshire, Moor Park and Old Ford Manor, and a level par 72 in Friday’s final at Moor Park was good enough for Reynolds to finally land the title, having finished second and third in previous championships.
It gave him a 54-hole tally of 224 to finish a stroke ahead of Stracey, who returned 77, and two clear of Andrew Carman from Coventry.
He said: "I wanted to shoot 72, which I felt would give me a chance and, having come so close before, this is a dream come true."
Reynolds began the day four strokes behind Stracey and two adrift of Carman and Geoff King from Essex.
But a birdie-eagle start helped him to wipe out the deficit, and Stracey and Carman both needed a birdie from the final two holes to force a play-off, but Carman’s hopes disappeared with a bogey at the 17th while Stracey couldn’t do better than two pars.
However, it still completed a memorable week for Stracey, who the previous weekend had won the Irish Seniors Open Amateur Championship at Bangor GC by one shot from Doneraile’s Michael Quirke to become the first English winner of the event for 17 years.
Stracey said: "It was a real thrill to win in only my second-ever seniors event. The course was quite tricky, as it was very wet, plus it was quite windy, so they were difficult conditions."