Elie Dangoor won his final five games to clinch his third major UK title at the 2023 Easter Matchplay at the Holiday Inn in Coventry this weekend.
Elie (17-6, +1200) beat Lukeman Owolabi (15-8, +905) in the final two games to win the title, his first since the 2011 Easter Matchplay. John Ashmore (16-7, +461) finished strongly, one game behind Elie in second place with Lukeman third. Six more players finished one game further back: Rik Kennedy, Craig Solomons, Stewart Houten, Phil Robertshaw, Terry Kirk and Joel Davey.
The open division had a strong field of 36 players and the standings remained tight throughout, with the leaders have a mixed final morning and the chasing group closing in, leaving 12 players within a game of the lead with 5 games to go. The field started to thin out in the early afternoon such that with two games to go, only three were still in contention for the title, with Elie Dangoor and Lukeman Owolabi leading on 15 wins with John Ashmore one game back. Elie won his battle with Lukeman in the penultimate round, but Lukeman still had a chance to win by beating Elie by 75 in the final round, although he fell just short in the end.
The 22 players in the round robin division also had a close battle, but at the completion of the round robin stage, Caroline McLaughlin was in first place with Suzanne Dundas needing to beat Caroline twice by a combined 572 to take the win. However, Caroline was able to defeat Suzanne in the penultimate round to clinch the division with a game to go, finishing 19-4, +1935. Peter Thorpe and Wai Hung were also there or thereabouts throughout, with Suzanne (16-7, +668) beating Peter (15-8, +543) for second place in the final round and Peter just missing out on third on spread to Wai Hung (15-8, +745). Ruth MacInerney (14-9, +1057) and Kathy Richland (14-9, +141) came fifth and sixth.
Final standings:
Open Championship division |
Round robin division