[4] APRIL 2023 | NEWS GOLFNEWS.CO.UK
InBrief
■ SHANE LOWRY WILL BE BACK TO DEFEND THE TITLE HE WON IN 2022, WHILE RORY MCILROY (INSET) WILL BE HOPING TO REPEAT HIS HEROICS FROM 2014
CLARIDGE TAKES BERKHAMSTED TROPHY ★ England squad player James Claridge won the Berkhamsted Trophy after shooting the lowest score in the tournament’s 62-year history. The 20-year-old from Enville Golf Club in Somerset fired rounds of 67, 66 and 69 for a recordbreaking 11-under-par total to finish three shots clear of West Herts Golfer Zach Little, and a shot further ahead of Gog Magog’s Jake Plumb. The event had to be cut to 54 holes from its traditional 72 after the second round was ruled out with heavy rain, but the fastdraining Berkhamsted course recovered quickly overnight to enable two rounds to be played on the final day. Claridge, who won last year’s Walton Heath Trophy, was having his second crack at winning the Berkhamsted Trophy. He said: “Since being picked for the England squad I have learnt to play with more aggression but less recklessness. The way Berkhamsted plays, with gorse frequently crossing the fairway, makes you think defensively, but I tried to bully it a bit. Thankfully it worked!”
WALLIS IN COMMAND AT PRINCE’S 27 ★ Canterbury GC professional Richard Wallis combined with amateur partner Barry Langford to win the PGA South Region’s Prince’s 27 tournament. Held over Princes Golf Club’s Shore, Dunes and Himalayas courses in very wet and windy conditions, the winners held off the challenge of Precision Golf’s Paul Nessling and amateur partner Nick Hill by the narrowest of margins, with Paultons Golf Centre’s Lewis Scott and amateur partner Stu Hayward taking third.
BLOXHAM BAGS HERTS SCHOOLS SCRATCH CHAMPS ★ Welwyn Garden City GC’s Louie Bloxham won the Herts Schools Scratch Championship after shooting a gross 73 in testing conditions at Harpenden Common Golf Club. Played in high winds, often gusting to 50mph, Bloxham, representing Richard Hale School, won on countback from Harpenden’s own Josh Robinson, who was representing Sir John Lawes School. Louie also won the U16 section and the overall best score, ensuring he left with two trophies. The girl’s overall winner was Tala Clarke of Knebworth Golf Club representing Marriotts School, who fired a gross 79, while AIxie Akpan of John O’Gaunts Golf Club, representing The Highfield School, won the under 16 trophy with a gross 83. The tournament attracted a field of 48 boys and 11 girls.
McIlroy set to tee it up at Wentwo h Rory McIlroy has confirmed that he will be in the starting field for the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in September. After opening 2023 with a win in Dubai, the Northern Irishman, who is currently ranked no.3 in the world, is aiming to further enhance his impressive BMW PGA Championship record, with a victory in 2014 and four further top tens – including two runnerup finishes – to his name. McIlroy was in scintillating form when he made his last
appearance at Wentworth last September, having sealed his third FedExCup title after a 2021/22 PGA TOUR season which included three victories and seven further top-10 finishes. And following a thrilling final day duel with Ryder Cup teammate and eventual champion Shane Lowry around the famous Surrey venue, he went on to top the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai rankings for the fourth time, becoming European no.1, world no.1 and FedExCup champion at the same point for the first time in his career. McIlroy started the new campaign in the same vein, winning his first events of the 2023 season on both sides of the Atlantic, with the prospect of a seventh Ryder Cup appearance approaching in September. “I always love playing at the BMW PGA Championship, and I’ve had some great results and performances round the West Course in the past,” said the 15-time DP World Tour winner. “I started 2023 with a win in Dubai, and Wentworth is a place where I would like to add another title.” For tickets to the 2023 BMW PGA Championship, which is being held from September 12-17, visit etg.golf/ bmwpgatickets.
Club member loses case for fees refund during Covid closure A golf club member who took his club to court because it didn’t refund part of his subscription when he couldn’t play golf due to the various Covid lockdowns has lost his case. The landmark case will come as a welcome news to clubs who may have feared that it would have opened the floodgates to similar claims should the claim have been successful. The golfer was a member of a club – neither of which have been named – that was forced to close three times: from late March to mid-May 2020, most of November 2020, and the first three months of 2021, due to the pandemic. The club received a claim in breach of contract from the member for a refund of his subscriptions for the three periods. According to the National Golf Clubs’ Advisory Association, which advised the club throughout the lockdowns and represented it in court, the financial value of the claim was fairly low but, had it been successful, it could have devastated the club if other members had then requested the same refund. At the hearing, the claimant argued for a pro-rated refund of subscriptions under the membership contract, essentially saying that he had not been able to play golf on every day that he chose to do so and that the club, by following the national lockdown restrictions imposed by the government, had breached that membership contract. In its defence the club said its constitution did not give any guarantee of golf for 365
days of the year and that while the course was closed for play, the member still received some benefit from his membership as, for example, the clubhouse and course were maintained during that period. The court agreed that the club constitution also vested power in the club’s committee to manage the club and course, including being able to restrict entry to the course and premises in any circumstances, provided that it did so lawfully and fairly. The judge also agreed with the club on its contention that any member joining prior to the lockdowns would have a reasonable expectation that they may miss some days of golf each year as a result of bad weather, dangerous conditions and tournaments. Alistair Smith, CEO of the NGCAA, whose barrister defended the club in court, said: “Any golf member re-joining at the start of 2021 would be likely to have a reasonable expectation of further lockdowns, in addition to those which they might have had already given the state of the pandemic at that point and the history of lockdowns and restrictions up until that point. We now have a first and valuable judicial interpretation of the
proper response by clubs to the challenges presented by Covid.” Rather than offering direct refunds, some clubs in the UK offered extensions to membership fees during Covid, offering 15 months’ membership for the price of 12, while others offered a batch of green fee vouchers to use for guest rounds. Around 80% of club managers surveyed during the pandemic said that they had received requests for refunds on membership fees, but none had said that a refund had been issued, indeed some had added an extra levy to the membership fees in order to help keep the clubs afloat.