‘To play to my handicap would have meant two 63s rounds here and that just wasn’t on’, said Cryer.

A 68 in the morning could have been much better were it not for a double bogey, birdie, bogey, par finish for a 68. That was two off the lead and it was 18 year old home club player Adam Gray, with a 67 (5 birdies) and Rob Browning (Warwickshire Juniors) who led the way for the Amateurs.

Rob Steele put himself out of contention with a disastrous finish, dropping 6 shots in the last four holes. He managed to get to four under in the afternoon with a run from the 4th to the 7th, only to fritter those shots away and end up on 142.

Defending Champion Matt Morris was never on the leaderboard as Carey managed four birdies in his 66, and he (Carey) treated the long par three 9th as a four each round – then tried to drive the 10th each time (over 340 yards in length) only to take par each time there. The only other Pro to feature was Mark Watkins, who courtesy of a hole in one at the 8th, his last but one hole, for a 67. It should be mentioned that his 1 was followed with a double bogey when he hit OOB at the last!

Matt Cryer could not find a birdie in the afternoon, whilst his challengers for the TP Cooke were sometimes struggling, then almost making a move for the prestigious Salver. Paul Randle ‘played solid’ in his second round 68 making four red numbers to go with four bogies.

‘I kept on making a birdie, the following it up with a bogey. And I missed three putts of under 3 foot’, said Randle as he missed out on the TP Cooke by a shot, only to claim leading amateur spot as consolation.

Gray struggled at the start and a few birdies on his last nine were negated by a double at 17. With Cryer having 15 pars and three bogies in his 71, the opportunity was there for Dave Westwood, Runner up in the Amateur, only for the Handsworth player to take 70, and again miss out by one.

‘You can make double easily today, and I managed not to. I hit my driver very well which meant I could hit mid-irons to the par 5’s. It was a tough day in total.’

‘This year I am just playing Midland events and lots of Pro Ams. It’s a bit of a double having won the Pros (the Warwickshire PGA Championship) the week before at Edgbaston. I am not going to Q School … I’m playing better when I play less and don’t try to be so serious … and the lessons from Alan Partridge are a big help.’

So ended the last Warwickshire Strokeplay Championship for 2003. All that is left now is the Bainbridge quarters, semis and the final, with some very strong teams still in the competition.

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