Gog Magog Golf Club duo Josh Austin-Tierney and Jake Plumb battle it out for Wheeler Salver prize

Josh Austin-Tierney edged out fellow Gog Magog Golf Club member Jake Plumb to get his hands on the Wheeler Salver on Sunday, October 23.

The two players – featuring at their home course – got under way with pars but a couple of wayward shots from Plumb allowed his opponent to go 2up heading on to the sixth hole.

Plumb, who is also a member of the Links Golf Club in Newmarket, duly halved the deficit with a long distance birdie putt, but rather than inspire a comeback he struggled to find his top level.

Instead it was Austin-Tierney who found his groove and going into the 13th hole he was dormie 6up, only for Plumb to then launch a late surge.

He won holes 13, 14, 15 and 16 with some good tee to green play to close the gap to just two points, but the game was up on the 17th when his birdie putt shaved the edge of the hole and Austin-Tierney kept his composure to two putt from 15 feet to wrap up a 2&1 victory.

However, on a more positive note for Plumb a score of 68 saw him come out on top during Sunday’s opening fixture of the Cambridgeshire Area Golf Union’s Winter Series at St Neots Golf Club.

Austin-Tierney, meanwhile, finished fifth with a score of 72.

Elsewhere, the Ron Freeman final honours went the way of Ely City’s Luke Ryan and his playing partner Joe York, who plays his home golf at Gog Magog.

The County A team players were the overwhelming favourites heading into their foursomes matchplay clash with the Cambridge County Club’s duo of Mark Lydon and Paul Boag, who had taken some big scalps on their way to the final.

And they lived up to that billing with a 6&5 victory that ended on the 13th green at Newmarket’s Links Golf Club, with Lydon and Boag unable to recover from a slow start to the contest.

The win was particularly poignant for Ryan given that it meant he has now emulated his father Terry after he got his hands on the trophy in 1991.