SADDLEWORTH defied the odds to win the Manchester Alliance BMW Junior Challenge for the first time.

Their young guns had to give between two and eight shots in every match against Horwich at Lowes Park but still had too much firepower and they triumphed 4-3.

There was little between the sides until Saddleworth stepped up a gear when Rick Scholes, who forfeited seven strokes, eclipsed Gregory Stebbins four and three.

Mark Anderson-Wild handed half-a-dozen to Corey Southern but still prevailed six and five.

And Steve Pullen put to icing on the cake as he romped home by the same margin despite Jos Rees receiving eight strokes.

Saddleworth made their intentions clear when they overwhelmed past winners Birchwood 6-1 in the semi-finals as Horwich edged through 4-3 against Davyhulme Park.
 
GREENKEEPER-turned-professional Matthew Davies won the Cheshire and North Wales PGA Matchplay Championship at Wilmslow with a last hole victory against Bromborough’s Tim Backhouse.

The trainee professional from Rhuddlan quit the game after a promising amateur career with Wales and joined the ground staff at Holywell.

“I was in the job for three years and enjoyed it but I began to miss playing and went to Rhuddlan when a vacancy came up,” he said.

Davies, 26, a former Flintshire County champion, signed up as a trainee professional at the start of last year and has settled into the role as he combines coaching with playing.
There was never more than a hole between him and Backhouse, who birdied the short 17th to level before Davies secured a decisive par on the last.

Earlier, Davies beat Birchwood assistant Russell Caldecott two and one in the semis as Backhouse dispatched Eastham Lodge’s Matthew Blackhurst three and two.
 
BOLTON’S Steve Parry is the regional favourite to win the inaugural PGA PowerPlay Championship at Frilford Heath on Friday in a 72-strong field containing former Ryder Cup star Steven Richardson and Mark Mouland.

Mottram Hall pro Matthew Turnock, Chorley’s Mark Bradley and James Barr from the Adlington Chilli-dip Academy are also in the line-up for the £30,000 stableford which features the two flag risk-and-reward format sweeping the country.

“It’s something different and the fact that you can be in it right until the death keeps it interesting,” said Parry who won the regional qualifier at Oulton Hall and the Welsh Young PGA Professional Championship at the start of the season.