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 Star cast celebrate Tony Jacklin's 40th Anniversary at Nailcote HallThe celebrity stars got into the swing at the Farmfoods British Par 3 Championship at Nailcote Hall from August 4th-7th making it a very special celebration for Tony Jacklin CBE.It's hard to believe it is 40 years since Tony's historic Open Championship triumph and it was great to see Sir Alex Ferguson, Jasper Carrott, Brendan Cole, Jimmy Tarbuck, William Roache, Peter Schmeichel and many more joining in the Par 3 fun to help him celebrate. In the team event on the 4th August the team 'Bookatz' with celebrity star, Jasper Carrott took the honours with a score of 83 points. They were pushed hard by runners up 'William De Broe' with Charlie Ross and in 3rd place 'Shortland Horne' with individual winning celebrity, Clive Abbott. In the individual celebrity standing, the star host, Tony Jacklin came 2nd followed by England cricket legend Brian Close and last year’s defending champion, Aston Villa European Cup winning star, Gary Shaw. The 'black tie' Gala Dinner which followed included dinner entertainment by Jim McAllister as 'Frank Sinatra' and a tribute to Tony Jacklin by former star BBC Golf commentator, Alex Hay. Tony also sang a beautiful song to his wife, Astrid, which brought the audience of 250 to their feet. The main Pro-Am event started in dry conditions on the morning of the 5th and 2000 champion, Jeremy Robinson set the early pace scoring with a 1 under par 53. Andrew Collison came into play and challenged recording a 2 under par 52 and then Tommy Horton, the Seniors' legend got going and reached 4 under par until a double bogey on the 17th pegged him back to a 2 under 52. At the back end of the day, Steve Carter set the tournament alight with a round of 50 to take the lead at 4 under par. Not far behind defending champion, Mark Mouland was in the hunt at one over par with a trio of Jacklin's, Tony, Warren and Sean with Tour pro Lee Slattery and Welsh Amateur, Nick James on level par. After more overnight rain a dry start for the second day's play saw some sparkling action to please the crowd enjoying the sunny start. Craig Swinburn produced an amazing 52 including a pair of aces on the 4th and 10th holes winning a holiday in 'Andalucia' in the process. Dave Hutton of the European Tour took full advantage of the better conditions with a 4 under par 50 to move into contention at 1 under par. 1 under par 53's from Tour pro's Phil Archer and Sam Walker pushed them into the picture at level par and 1 over. And top Midland pro, Matt Morris had a second successive level par round to be amongst the front runners. As the clouds came over and the final groups set out in the rain the question was, could Steve Carter hold on to win ? At the end of the day, a round of 56, 2 over par, saw Steve get home at 2 under par to win by one shot from Dave Hutton, with Phil Archer and Matt Morris a shot further back. Sam Walker, Andrew Collison and Nick James had to settle for a share of 5th with defending champion, Mark Mouland 8th. Steve Carter and his amateur partner, Paul Cavill won the Pairs event with a score of 16 under followed by Nick James and Aaron Rai at 15 under. Lee Slattery and Jason Preston were 3rd on -12. Tony Jacklin and title sponsor Eric Herd of Farmfoods' came in a very creditable 6th at -9. The final day of the event brought some real sunshine at last and some great action too. Amongst the celebrity challengers, world champion boxer, John H Stracey and comedian, Jimmy Tarbuck were playing the Cromwell course for the first time. Coronation Street’s William Roache, Grand National winner, Bob Champion and last year’s winner, Clayton Blackmore were in the thick of the action along with Willie Thorne and Peter Shilton. A really tight competition finished with the top team led by Tony Currie on 85 points followed closely by Ian Cole's team with Pete Langford of the Barron Knights on 84 points. Just one point further back on 83 points former Blues and Villa star, Bobby Thomson helped the star team, "The Jovial Jewsbury's" to finish 3rd. In the celebrity category, Clayton Blackmore successfully defended his title with a 2 under par 38 points closely followed by Gary Wolstenholme, Sean Jacklin and Chris Nicholl on 36 points. Just one point further back the host, Tony Jacklin and boxer John H Stracey. The last night 'black tie' gala dinner was a great success with a special appearance by 13 year old Elliott Evans singing Michael Jackson hits, 'BEN' AND "I'LL BE THERE" And after that the party really got going with the fabulous party band, Rang-a-Tang. As Proprietor, Rick Cressman said, "It's been a great week with great competition and fun despite the weather and now all we've got to do is start planning to make it even better for next year when we can celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Tony's historic US Open win." Click here to see the highlights of the 2009 event.  Dates for your diary: The British Par 3 Championship 2009 celebrates Tony Jacklin's 40th Anniversary of the Open Champion. 4th-7th August 2009. For more information, please visit www.britishpar3championship.co.uk |
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