Home comforts for West End pair

The hastily assembled pairing of Darren Arber and Mick Holroyde produced some remarkable golf to provide a home success in yesterday's Halifax-Huddersfield Winter Alliance meeting at Halifax West End.

They thrashed their rivals in the pro-am section with 46 Stableford points, in spite of only arranging to team up 90 minutes before they teed off.

West End pro Arber had been due to partner current club captain Les Carman, who was ill. That resulted in an SOS message to retired policeman Holroyd, who had been captain at the Norton Tower club in 2016.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Mick said he’d love to play,” revealed Arber, and after a couple of one-pointers in the opening five holes the pair really clicked into gear.

Arber had eight birdies and nine-handicapper Holroyd contributed two nett birdies and a nett eagle at the long par fourth ninth hole.

“I had eight birdies for a 64 gross, which is my best round for a long, long time. Mick was excellent as well and we complemented each other,” said Arber.

It was a first Alliance win for Arber since he was President in 2014 - too far back for him to remember the details of his success.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“It has been a while since I’ve been at the top table but I have got the bug back as a player and a round like this helps.” he added.

Dewsbury pair James Ward and Jonathan Binns (4) were runners-up, three shots behind.

Arber said: “James has been playing very well and I was not confident that we would win until he came in, but even he shook his head and said ‘how did you manage that’,”

The West End duo’s total was matched by the am-am winners and early starters Oliver Shaw (4) and Oliver Hague (11) of Crosland Heath and Bradley Hall.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It was very much a joint effort with nine nett birdies each and a nett eagle for Hague on the 14th.

The next best score for most of the day was 41 but three am-am pairs in the last few groups beat that.

Second place eventually went to the winners of the previous Alliance at Dewsbury, Mike Dempsey (11) and Pete Newey (17). The Independent Fixby members had 44 points.

Third place was taken by Crow Nest Park’s Steve Hobson (9) and Ian Clarke (17) on 43 points.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Alliance supremo Trevor Williams noted that the West End course had changed a little since the Alliance last year, notably the new ditch and pond short of the green on the par five seventh hole.

He said the course had been in fine condition and the greens were true and quite fast for late October. Play had been from the back tees.

It was quite a cold day with a light breeze blowing in the opposite direction to normal at West End. It was fine until mid-afternoon when light rail started falling.

The last Alliance of this year is on Tuesday, November 13 at Halifax Golf Club.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Scores - Pro-am: 1, D.Arber Pro & M.Holroyde 9 (West End) 46; 2, J.Ward Pro & J.Binns 4 (Dewsbury) 43; 3, N.P.Hirst Pro & I.Hunter 19 (Dewsbury) 40; 3, T.Garrett Pro & R.Gledhill 14 (Crosland Heath) 40; 5, R.Booth Pro & C.Brook 10 (Outlane) 38; 6, K.Gaskell Pro & C.Hichling 13 (Crosland Heath) 35; 6, J.Fish Pro & T.Hunt -1 (Meltham) 35.

Am-am: 1, O.Shaw 4 & O.Hauge 11 (Crosland Heath/Bradley Hall) 46; 2, M.Dempsey 11 & P.Newey 17 (Ind.Huddersfield) 44; 3, S.Hobson 9 & I.Clarke 17 (Crow Nest Park) 43; 4, J.Lawton 4 & S.Beeby 5 (Outlane) 42; 5, I.Wallis 6 & S.Hitchenor 8 (Crosland Heath) 41; 5, P.O’Flynn 12 & P.Reynolds 15 (Outlane) 41; 5, K.Harrop 8 & D.Harrison 12 (Bradley Park) 41; 5, S.Minto 1 & B.Minto 10 (Hanging Heaton) 41; 9, B.Page 19 & M.Hanley 20 (Bradley Park/Ind.Huddersfield) 40; 9, C.Atkinson 13 & N.Muffitt 15 (Crow Nest Park) 40; 9, R.Ingham 13 & D.Norcliffe 15 (Crow Nest Park) 40; 9, I.Saxton 6 & D.Howarth 2 (Meltham) 40; 9, F.Barron 3 & R.Speight 6 (Dewsbury) 40; 14, P.Crosse 7 & B.Thomson 11 (Crosland Heath) 39; 15, A.Brown 21 & H.Belafonte 13 (Bradley Park) 38; 15, N.Hirst 10 & B.Cassidy 11 (Outlane) 38; 17, J.Harrison 16 & T.Murphy 14 (Crosland Heath) 37; 17, S.Spenser 16 & K.Puckering 13 (Outlane) 37; 17, E.Pearson 16 & M.Clark 18 (Crosland Heath) 37; 17, D.Knapton 15 & C.Twigg 13 (Outlane) 37; 17, P.Wilbraham 11 & P.Ledgard 14 (Dewsbury) 37; 17, P.Pither 11 & R.T.Owen 11 (Crosland Heath) 37; 23, I.Johnson 28 & T.Johnson 13 (Meltham) 36; 23, A.Young 15 & R.Walker 14 (Dewsbury) 36; 23, M.McGrath 13 & S.Leather 9 (Dewsbury) 36; 23, J.Wozniak 8 & N.Ward 8 (Meltham) 36; 23, S.Wilcock 5 & J.Ratcliffe 7 (Hanging Heaton) 36; 23, A.McMahon 5 & M.Myer 12 (Dewsbury) 36; 29, D.Ford 23 & D.Stocks 17 (Crosland Heath) 35; 29, A.Shaw 13 & G.Quinn 13 (Outlane) 35; 31, A.Kendall 23 & K.Booth 13 (Longley Park) 33; 31, A.Goodman 17 & S.Whitworth 17 (Crow Nest Park) 33; 31, T.Kent 7 & M.Riley 14 (Bradley Hall) 33; 31, N.Sutton 6 & S.Beaumont 6 (Outlane) 33; 35, C.L’Estrange 11 & G.Newton 8 (Crosland Heath) 32; 35, K.Walker 8 & S.McKenzie 7 (Meltham) 32; 37, M.Simmons 24 & K.Bruce 23 (Marsden) 26.