The annual Trilby Tour, organised by Todmorden Golf Club treasurer Richard Lupton,took place earlier this month in Spain.
Twenty enthusiastic golfers, 16 of them full playing members at Todmorden, travelled to their base in Fuengirola.
The tour took in five high quality courses on the Costa Del Sol, and produced a competitive week’s golf for all participants with Lee Dearden taking top honours.
The opening round took place at El Paraiso. This was a course new to the event and sadly the team bus was greeted by a downpour which continued throughout the round.
Despite this the course was presented in excellent condition and good scores were returned.
Richard Lupton won with an excellent 37 points and he also had the shot of the day with a chip in for a birdie, having announced prior to the shot exactly what the outcome would be. David Setterfield was runner up.
Round two moved to the excellent Santana course. Again rain greeted the players but after a rallying call from President Andrew Lupton it was decided that play would take place.
Upon reaching the first tee the sun broke through and clouds dispersed, not to be seen again during the week’s play.
Ged Rowbottom was the day’s winner with Mark Harper and Andrew Lupton one stroke behind.
Round three was Captain’s Day with Jay Link choosing Los Flamingos - a well laid out course with no shortage of water features - as his venue.
Link was challenging for shot of the day, having achieved par on both stroke index one and two holes - no mean achievement for a high handicapper - but it was David Hollows who took that honour with an eagle two on his way to a winning score. Phil Ellis was runner up and Dearden came third.
Round four was President’s Day and took place at the magnificent Finca Cortesin, recent home of the world matchplay final.
Richard Lupton again lifted his game to match the occasion to record his second win of the week with room mate Paul Lukaszyk runner up. Andrew Lupton celebrated his day by producing the shot of the day with an eagle at the testing eighth.
And so to the final round and Santa Clara. Throughout the week the 19th hole had been dominated by talk of how well Dearden had been playing. Surely it was only a matter of time before a big score came from him.
The predictions came true with the best round of the week, 39 points, giving Dearden a win by some distance from a suddenly inspired John Humes.
The final evening saw presentations made to all tourists with the big prize and bragging rights for the next 12 months going to Dearden with four top four finishes, including a win.
Richard Lupton and Ged Rowbottom took second and third respectively.
Captain Link congratulated all concerned on a successful tour and wished all the players success in the forthcoming season at Rive Rocks.