Oldham & District Golf League

DENTON lifted the end of season Brian Atack Trophy in a countback that went down to the last six on their three qualifying scores.

The Tameside club had led for most of the day at Ashton as their early players posted an impressive list of scores – 43-42-41 giving them a best three-card total of 126.

However, with Castle Hawk pairs playing in the final groups of the day in the 160-strong field, it was always going to be a long wait.

The Castleton club have been sweeping all before them this season with impressive runs in the Manchester Alliance events as well as in the ODGL.

And when Castle Hawk captain Tim Rands and his partner Denver Taylor came in with a best-of-the-day 45 points and were followed in by Tariq Mohammed and Faisal Ahsan (43pts), the trophy looked to be slipping from Denton’s grasp.

However, Castle Hawk’s third counter was 38pts meaning a 126 total and time for the countback.

It was still deadlocked on 64-64 on the back nine but when it came to the back six Denton edged it 47-45.

Brookdale’s low pairing of Charlie Clough and Brett Worrall, leaders for much of the day, claimed runners-up in the pairs competition with 44pts, Denton pairing Daz Greenough and Steve White edged Mohammed and Ahsan for third on 43pts and fifth went to another Denton pairing – Paul Lyons and Jonathan Bennet with 42pts.

Ryan Gould (Brookdale) won the longest drive prize at the 2nd hole and first-out Keiran Lee (Denton) won the nearest the pin at the 18th with a shot to 3ft 4ins to set up a birdie two that stood undefeated all day.

There were EIGHTEEN 2s on the day and these gained a prize of two sleeves of TaylorMade TP5s.

If they were not collected on the night by teammates they will be delivered to your home professional shop.

The tournament was played at Ashton Golf Club – tough on the day with no roll and the course very wet in places (with hindsight it should have been preferred lies, but it was the same for everyone!).

Thanks to Ashton for hosting a marathon day with over 11 hours of golf - and we were very pleased to get everyone round before the Sunday evening deluge!

The presentation of prizes also doubled up as prize-giving for the various trophies played for over the 2024 season.

A League: Brookdale A

A Cup: Dukinfield A

B League: Castle Hawk B

B Cup: Blackley B

Gold Cup Matchplay: Tim Rands (CH) bt holder Amir Nazir (Denton) 1up at North Manchester.

NOTES

Next season’s Brian Atack Trophy will take place at North Manchester GC on Sunday, September 28.

Club captains please note that the League’s Autumn Meeting will take place at Ashton on Wednesday, November 6 (8pm). Please ensure all clubs are represented.

Winter well gentlemen – it could be a long one!

The League was conceived as an opportunity for local golfers to play competitively against other golf clubs in the local area and at the same time develop camaraderie between them. The intention is to enjoy good golf courses with sporting companions in a friendly but competitive atmosphere.

The League was composed of 2 Divisions from the outset but the Cup competition was not introduced until 1980. Initially, the League was based on singles matches in the A Division and the first Secretary was A L Davidson (Saddleworth GC). In those early years, the league was less competitive and League Tables were not produced until the last match of the season had been played! In 1982, Barry Matthews (League Secretary) and Carl Cunnelly (Fixtures Secretary) ran the League on a more organised and formal basis until 2005. In 1991 the end of season Brian Atack Tournament was added to compete for individual and team trophies.

Since 2005, the trio of Saddleworth's John Walsh (Chairman), Ashton's Brendan Kennedy (Secretary) and Werneth's David Whaley (Fixtures secretary) guided the league through an expansion into a four division format with the addition of teams from North Manchester, Blackley, Crompton & Royton and Castle Hawk. The league changed further in 2017 with the introduction of promotion and relegation between the two 'A' divisions and Howard Lawton (North Manchester) took over as League Secretary. In 2023 David Whaley (Saddleworth) assumed the role of League Secretary with Howard Lawton standing down as Treasurer.