The first shots of the 49th Lagonda Trophy were struck at 7:20 am under decent conditions. The Old Course was in the best condition that the older members can ever remember, thanks to the hard work put in by Andrew Howarth and his team. The greens were true and running well on the stimp meter and the Old Course was certainly going to test this high class field of competitors.

Those playing for position off the tee found the best success, with wayward drives captured by the longer rough, making ball control into the greens extremely difficult. The best round in the morning was an spectacular 64 from Oliver Allison of the Colchester Golf Club. Oliver, who incidentally led after the opening round last year, managed 6 birdies and an eagle. He held a 4 shot lead from 3 other players, including Danny Loveday from the local club St Neots.

The second round followed similar patterns of scoring with the low rounds of the afternoon a pair of 65’s, the first by Bailee Curran (Orsett GC) with the only blemish on the card coming with a bogey on the 18th, followed a few hours later by Luke Perkins (Frilford Heath GC) with only a bogey on the 9th to show beside his 6 birdies. 

Sadly it didn’t go too well for Oliver Allison in the afternoon round despite playing the first 10 holes in one under par, an 8 at the 12th and 3 bogeys left him on level par for the tournament.

The leader in the clubhouse after 36 holes with scores of 69-66 for a 5 under total of 135 was Luke Jenkins (Rochester & Cobham GC), with Danny Loveday (St Neots GC) 68-68 and Brandon Skidmore (Cotswold Hills GC) 69-67 just a shot further back at 136 (-4).

Gog Magog member Jake Plumb was five back of the lead after even par rounds of 70-70. New member Teddy Hall went three better in the afternoon at 74-71, and finished alongside George Howard who carded 72-73. Both would start the day ten off the lead, with Paul Collington  a shot further back at 71- 75 for 146.  Ed Dimambro had a strong second round of 72 but a morning round of 77 for 149 left him three adrift of the cut line that fell at 146 (+6) 

It was decent weather on the morning of day 2 with the occasional bursts of sunshine to brighten up everyone’s day. Making a charge up the leader board was Tommy Evans from Beaconsfield GC who recorded a fine 67 which left him only 2 strokes off the lead. Luke Jenkins salvaged an amazing bogey at the last hole for a 72 to be just one stroke behind the 3rd round leader Brandon Skidmore who added a level par 70 to lead on 206. There were 16 players within 6 strokes of the lead going into the final round. Local hopes were pinned on Danny Loveday who was just 3 back and Jake Plumb who trailed by 6 strokes.

While the morning remained dry, by late afternoon persistent rain began falling, and the back nine of the Old Course once again bared its teeth.

As the day went on the pack fell further away apart from Oliver Allison who made a superb run with birdies on 4,5,8,9,10,11 and 13 to get within two of the lead.  Sadly for him double bogeys on 15 and 16 followed by dropped shots on the final two holes left him with a final round of 71 for a total of 281 and 3rd place.

Luke Jenkins (Rochester & Cobham GC) started the final round strong with birdies at the second, third and eleventh before consecutive bogeys on twelve, thirteen and fourteen dropped him four back and it looked like his race had been run.   The Lagonda Trophy then suddenly came to life with Skidmore making a three putt double bogey 6 on 15 after his playing partner Jenkins chipped in from left of the green for a birdie that narrowed the gap to just a single stroke.

However it was not to be as Jenkins sadly dropped shots on 16 and 17, it left Skidmore standing on the 18th tee with a three shot lead and the trophy in his grasp. 

He played a magnificent iron shot to 6 feet at the last and just missed his birdie putt to finish with a fine round of 69 to lift the 49th Lagonda Trophy with a total of 275 (69,67,70,69) and 5 under par. Jenkins was the only other competitor under par and finished on 278 (69,66,72,71) to take the runners up salver.

The best local player was Danny Loveday in 12th place on 285 and the best by a home club member was Jake Plumb in 21st place on 287.

Gog Magog’s George Howard finished strongly with a fine 68 but was undone in the 3rd round with an 80 and finished in 32nd place on 293. The remaining two Gogs members who made the final day were Teddy Hall on 298, Paul Collington on 299.

Our sincere thanks go to Clive Smith, the founder and sponsor of the Lagonda Trophy, who without his foresight back in 1975, and support ever since, this great tournament would never have taken place.

Our thanks go to all the competitors for making Clive’s event so special.

To all of the club members who gave up their time to help run the event, including the ball spotters, live scorers, recorders, referees, starters, office staff, professional staff, marshals, catering staff, a huge thank you from the Tournament Chairman Neil Hughes.

All scores and statistics for each hole can be found on the Gog Magog website.

A gallery of wonderful photographs can be found at the website of Kevin Diss Photography.  https://kevindiss.com/lagonda-trophy-2024

The final leader board can be found  here.