It was a record-breaking day on the Cromwell course at The Farmfoods British Par 3 Championship and there were two astounding hole-in-ones in the same morning.
Mark Mouland watched Richard O’Hanlon equal the course record with a fantastic -8 and then went on to complete the round himself in an incredible -10, setting a new course record.
With no fewer than eight Birdies, O’Hanlon went through the first nine holes with a score of 24 and the back nine with 22. Unfortunately, even though O’Hanlon finished comfortably ahead of Peter Baker with -4 and Sean Jacklin, Jason Timmis and Mike Harwood all on -3, Mark Mouland did even better.
Mark’s back nine card saw him sinking seven Birdies and Parring the remaining two while the other nine holes included four more Birdies. If it wasn’t for a frustrating Bogey on the fourth, Mark’s performance would have been even more remarkable.
Mark told us: “My putting was just fantastic. I really didn’t miss a putt. I had a lot of 20 to 30 footers and the ball just popped straight in the hole. It was literally one of those days when everything went right. You only get one of those days maybe once or twice in your lifetime.”
He added: “It’s a tricky course, I know it backwards because I got my academy there and I saw Richard go around in eight under and thought ‘Wow, no-one’s going to beat that today’. I was hoping to get three under Par which would’ve been good but I just kept making Birdies. Coming back in 20 was a bit special.”
Mark said his best ever score in a Pro event was 11 under but that was 25 years ago and golfers his age don’t expect to shoot under 10 on any course. Part of the reason for his performance, he said, was that the greens were “the best they’ve been”. He has been involved in the tournament for 20 years and “the course is the best I’ve seen it ever, without question”.
Mark went on: “You’ve got to have everything going for you to shoot that sort of score and it was my turn today. I became a grandfather for the first time yesterday so I was in a pretty relaxed state. That must be the answer!”
Other excellent rounds came from Tom Reid and David Gilford on -2 and all on -1 after 18 holes were Phillip Price, Senior Open Championship winner Paul Broadhurst from the Champions of Golf stable, and Esteban Toledo.
Heading up the Super Seniors by the end of the day’s play was DJ Russell and Carl Mason on +1 and then Costantino Rocca on +3. The winner of the Super Seniors will walk away with a cheque of €5000.
At the halfway point of the tournament, organised by Champions (UK) plc and held at Nailcote Hall, the hole-in-ones came from Carl Mason on the 7th and Oliver Wilson on the 14th.
The leading team at the end of the day was Mark Mouland and Ian Halliwell with 44 points, closely followed by Ian Woosnam/Tommy Scott and Richard O’Hanlon/Tomy Lymn, both on 46.
Finally, leading the pack in the Norma C Herd Silver Salver was Ricky Sturrock, James Jordan, Steve Reynard and Andrew Thirkhill, all on +1.
The tournament’s progress can be followed with live updates on www.britishpar3.com and on Twitter with @BritishPar3.
