Yorkshire Golf Challenge: Alwoodley and Hull pairing are kings of Ryder Cup courses

ALWOODLEY'S Jonathan Kay and Bill Acton (Hull) ran away from the opposition on the final day to be crowned Yorkshire Challenge Supreme Champions on the 12th staging of the competition.

They won the prestigious and increasingly popular better ball event held over the county's three Ryder Cup venues – Ganton, Moortown and Lindrick – by six points on 133, having been just two ahead of three pairs going into round three.

They added 44pts at Moortown on a hot and sunny day to the 46 and 43 they had accrued previously at Lindrick and Ganton respectively, leaving Kenny Crockett (York) and John Scott, of Cottingham Parks, to claim second on countback from three other duos.

Acton and Kay might have been expecting a closer battle and any nerves were not calmed by gleaning only one point from the relatively easy 486-yard opening par-five at Moortown.

Yorkshire Challenge winners Bill Acton, left and Jonathan Kay.

But they quickly recovered whereas at Ganton, widely regarded as the toughest of the three examinations posed by the Yorkshire Challenge, their closest pursuers after two rounds were falling by the wayside, Roy and James Sammons (Hainault Forest) with 40, Andrew Wright (Wortley) and Darren Sleep (Hickleton) with 36 and John Hughes (Oulton Hall) and Mark Griffiths (Normanton) with 32.

Meanwhile, Acton and Kay – familiar with being frontrunners having led after day one of last year's Yorkshire Challenge – shook off the minor setback of their opening one-pointer to grab three birdies in the next five holes, a fillip augmented by Kay's birdie/net eagle at Moortown's 519-yard par-five seventh.

Their total of 22 day-three points going out was rapidly swollen with the aid of three birdies in the first four holes of their closing loop and they finished with a welcome but ultimately unnecessary flourish at the 429-yard par-four last, which they also birdied.

With overall victory also went supremacy in the Lindrick Series, each of the 193 pairs involved in the Yorkshire Challenge simultaneously pitted against all 192 other combinations plus those who began the three-day event on the same course as themselves.

At the Yorkshire Challenge of 2024, Bill, left, Moortown captain Bill Dales and Jonathan Kay.

Winners of the Ganton Series were Neale Stevenson and Chris Brown, of Thorndon Park, who closed with 41 at Lindrick having followed an opening 40 at Ganton with 43 at Moortown.

Overall runners-up Crockett and Scott bested the rest in the Moortown Series, scoring 43 on the first day and then 39 at Lindrick and 45 at Ganton.

Day one course winners were Fulford Heath's Steve Smith and Ross Holmes with 48 at Lindrick, Wright and Sleep with 45 at Moortown and Howley Hall's Martin John Smith and Glen Arnison with 43 at Ganton.

Day two saw the honours go to John Dempsey (Turton) and Gary Myerscough (Bolton) with 46 at Ganton, Roy and James Sammons were best at Lindrick with 46 and Lindrick's Timothy Pickford and Michael Miller topped the Moortown chart with 45.

Emma Brown, former British Ladies' champion and assistant secretary at Ganton, greets competitors as they register during the 2024 Yorkshire Challenge, which is held on the county three courses that have staged the Ryder Cup – Ganton, Lindrick and Moortown.

On the final day Crockett and Scott were top of the pile at Ganton with 45, outgoing champions Mark Smith (Rolls of Monmouth) and Lee Lockwood (Hartswood) were winners at Lindrick with 47 and their successors Acton and Kay's 45-point tally that saw them to the title was the best, on countback, at Moortown.

The event again received the enhanced support of sponsors Titleist and Footjoy and anyone wanting information on how to enter the 2025 Yorkshire Challenge should go to yorkshirechallenge.co.uk for further details.