Leeds Union: Walton achieves four club championships in as many decades

Walton bridged a 30-year gap to his first such success, at South Leeds, by shooting rounds of 74 73 to edge first-round leader Ryan Armitage, who added a 76 to his 72.

The 52-year-old put his latest triumph down to his liking for difficult conditions as he prevailed in weather that saw the heavy winds on Saturday strengthen further on Sunday.

“I had it at two under on the front nine on Sunday, but I’m a weak iron player and I got found out with my seven-, eight- and nine-irons,” he said.

“But I’m really good with my rescues and woods, so it helps on the front nine at Ponte because the par-5s require woods and a couple of the par-3s are rescues.

“I’ve got a good short game, not so bad from 60 yards in, but I’ve said for years that if someone said, ‘right, a million pounds for hitting that pitching wedge on the green or hit a driver down Briggate’, I’d hit the driver down Briggate for the million quid!”

The victory made amends for six years ago when, on day one, he won the Tigers Trophy, played off handicap, and led the field overall for the club championship by eight shots, but work commitments meant he could not tee it up in round two.

Leading by two with three to play on Sunday, he had “a bit of a wobble” when he double bogeyed 16 after being blocked out for his second shot by overhanging branches.

“I tried to turn an eight-iron and I flipped it and hit the tree,” he explained.

Playing in the penultimate group, his class and experience combined to enable him to settle and par the last two holes and post a target that Armitage seemed set to match only to bogey the last after holing from off the green at 17 for a par.

Walton spent some 30 years at South Leeds and is in his second spell at Pontefract, periods punctuated by two spells at Wakefield. A self-employed courier, he often belies his years by turning out for Pontefract’s scratch team on a Monday despite having driven two hundred to three hundred miles during the day.

“I often think, ‘at your age, why on earth are you doing this?’” he laughed before revealing that he is playing for Leeds seniors (on Thursday), has a round on Friday, two games for Leeds in the Yorkshire Inter-District Union League on Sunday, and scratch matches next Monday and Tuesday evenings.