Northumberland’s Phil Ridden won the English Mid-Amateur Championship after shooting a five-over-par total over three rounds at Thorpeness Golf Club in Suffolk.
Ridden, a member at the City of Newcastle Golf Club, carded a final round of 75 to end the 54-hole championship with a winning score of 215.
From a starting field of 144 players aged over 35, Ridden captured the Logan Trophy by one shot from a chasing group of four players – Andrew Minnikin (City of Newcastle), Simon Richardson (Spalding), Mike Henson (Rockliffe Hall) and Ian Kenwright (Haydock Park).
Ridden, who held the lead after both 18 and 36 holes, started the final day with a three-shot lead over playing partner Henson. Following a run of three bogeys from the fifth, a birdie at the ninth allowed Ridden to take a two-shot lead into the back nine. Through 16 holes there was only one shot in it as Henson refused to give up the fight, but thanks to a steadying birdie three at the penultimate hole, Ridden stood on the 18th tee with a two-shot cushion.
Ridden opted to take an iron off the tee and then laid up short of the green. A wayward wedge approach shot then landed in a greenside bunker. With Henson on the green in two, it all came down to a putting contest. While Ridden two-putted for a six, Henson raced his birdie effort past the hole and then missed the six-foot return putt which would have forced a play-off.
A relieved Ridden said: “It was definitely hard work today. The putter definitely wasn’t quite as warm, which made it a bit more interesting, but I’m over the moon to get over the line.”
For Ridden, it was a poignant moment when he lifted a trophy gifted in 1988 by the late George Logan, a stalwart of golf in the north-east and a former English Golf Union president, who passed away in 2020. He said: “George is well-known back home in Northumberland and is a bit of legend in the north-east, so it’s definitely coming home this time. I’d like to dedicate this to George’s memory.”