Frenchman triumphs
again at Hoylake!
13th Harold Hilton Medal. By David Cromie, RLGC Secretary.
It was in 1907 that Arnaud Massy, a Frenchman, won the
Open Championship at Hoylake and in doing so became the first player from mainland Europe to be crowned ‘Open Champion’. In 2009 the Club again witnessed another Frenchman
climb the rostrum to claim the prestigious Harold Hilton Medal. The quality field from all over Europe assembled on Friday for practice and found a links immaculately presented by Craig Gilholm and his team featuring severe rough. Weather conditions were kind with little or no sign
of ‘Mighty Winds’. The qualifying medal on Saturday morning produced some excellent golf with Richard Jones from Pennard returning a 74 that proved to be the leading qualifying score. The cut off mark for the Harold Hilton Medal was 80 shots. The match play flights got underway after lunch on Saturday and produced some very tight battles. In a game of low scoring the match involving Francois Illouz and Richard Jones, the leading qualifier, was settled on the famous 19th in favour of the Frenchman with the Out of Bounds as usual playing a major part. The formal tournament dinner held on Saturday night
was a grand affair where the Secretary in his toast to Harold Hilton gave an interesting account of the West Kirby man’s famous victory at Muirfield in the 1892 Open Championship.
After dinner during the annual ‘stairway pitching extravaganza’ the Green Chairman’s (Rob McBurney) disliking for tight lies became very apparent. In the final played in a good spirit and producing some
fine golf Francois Illouz took an early lead and defeated Martin Stein (Craigielaw) on the 16th green.
Winner Francois Illouz with Runner-up Martin Stein
The results of the 13th Harold Hilton Medal were as follows: Prize
Harold Hilton Medal Flight 2 Flight3 Flight 4 Flight 5
Leading Qualifier Consolation Stableford
Winner
Francois Illouz (Morfontaine) George Wilson (Calcot Park)
Alasdair McKelvie (Royal Liverpool) Michael Ribbons (Dulwich & Sydenham) Mark Williams (Hayling Island) Richard Jones (Pennard
Malcolm Reid (Royal Ascot)
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