Stracey poised to complete Irish-

English senior titles double

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Graham Steel and Andrew Stracey stole the show on an eventful second day of the English Seniors Championship.
Stracey is poised for his second seniors title in as many weeks. Steel, champion in 1994 and now aged 74, holed-in-one on the 127-yard tenth hole at Old Fold Manor on his way to a 76 for 154 to receive the biggest cheer of the day.
It leaves him within striking distance of the leaders after Stracey fired a 76 at Moor Park to lead by two strokes on 148.
But he wasn't the only one buying the drinks. Roger Dew from Harpenden Common also 'aced' the 10th in a round of 78 but his overall tally of 167 meant he didn't qualify for the final round. Stracey, from the Littlestone club in Kent, won the Irish Open Seniors at Bangor in what was his maiden seniors championship. He missed the cut in the Scottish Seniors but is on track for another triumph.
“I had a good front nine of 37 but the wheels fell off a little over the final five holes,” he said. “But I’m happy to be a front-runner. I had a five-shot lead in Ireland and I feel comfortable in that position.”
His nearest challengers on 150 are Geoff King from Essex, who matched the par of 71 at Old Fold Manor, and Coventry’s Andrew Carman, who returned 78 over the more difficult Moor Park. King, a seniors international from the West Essex club, was out in 33, three under par, at Old Fold Manor but gave all those shots back in a homeward 38.
“You are never happy with this game and I wanted to come home in 33,” he said. Thinking of tomorrow, he added: “Now I’ve got to find a caddie. I’ll have to talk to the wife and see if she’ll do it. She used to but she sacked me a few years ago.”
Carman, an England international three decades ago, shared the lead overnight after a 72 at Old Fold Manor but he found the High Course at Moor Park a harder nut to crack.
“A lot of people would have said that was the best 78 they’d ever had,” he said. “I felt the scores would be high but I tried to respect the pin positions but that was occasionally impossible. It caught me out on a number of occasions but you just have to keep battling away. However, I’m happy with my position and if I play well tomorrow I’ll be in with a chance.”
For the second successive day the greens at Moor Park proved the biggest talking point with virtually every player falling foul of the tricky borrows and rock-hard surfaces. But as one player said: “They were perfect to putt on but I just wasn’t good enough.”
Of the former champions in the field, Douglas Arnold shot 80 at Moor Park for 156 and said: “The greens were very testing. Unfortunately, good shots were not rewarded while the pin positions were tough. But it is the same for everyone.”
However, one man not complaining was Marshall Newman from Yorkshire, who went round Moor Park in 75 shots, the best of the day over the High Course. That followed an 84 at the ‘more friendly’ Old Fold Manor.
“I suppose I just got lucky,” he said modestly. “I three-putted a couple of times but I managed to par the two difficult par threes which made a big difference. At the 12th my ball finished on the up slope 52 yards from the pin, while I got up-and-down from a bunker at the 18th.
“I set myself a target of 75 which I matched but my playing partners gave me a lot of confidence,” added the four-handicapper from the Moor Allerton club in Leeds.
The cut came at 161 with 66 players qualifying for tomorrow’s final round at Moor Park.
Play starts at 8.30am each day and admission is free. For those unable to attend, live scoring and news updates will available on the Championships Section of the EGU website, www.englishgolfunion.org.