Squires puts Enville behind him with English title
4th June 2010
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Alan Squires (photo tom Ward & EGU

An emotional Alan Squires got the monkey off his back when he won the English Seniors Championship for the first time in the sunshine at Carlisle. (Picture © Tom Ward).

Although he carded a closing 76, his worst round of the week, for 216, two over par, it was still three strokes ahead of defending champion Chris Reynolds, who also returned 76.  The victory will erase the memory of his last appearance in the championship at Enville three years ago when he lost a five-shot lead in the final round, something that has haunted him ever since.

"Winning this title means everything to me," said Squires. "I've won three Lancashire Championships, three Lancashire Seniors Championships but this tops the lot. This is the national title, the big one.  "Enville hurt me and ever since I've said that if I didn't win anything else I wanted to win the English title and now I have."

On a day when only one player beat the par of 71 despite ideal conditions, Squires was philosophical about his own performance.  "It was hard work and it wasn't pretty," he added. "It's alright when you are chasing but defending is a different situation. It was a good job I had a good lead but the course was difficult because the greens had firmed up and were quick and you couldn't get at some of the pins.  But Chris took some of the pressure off me when he double-bogeyed twice but after Enville I wasn't going to make the same mistake this time."

Going into the final day the 61 year old Lancastrian enjoyed a three-shot lead and had added to that after five holes. But three successive bogeys at six, seven and eight, set him back in a front nine of 37 while two more shots went at ten and 11.  

However, with everyone else shedding shots, Squires maintained a safe lead and even a double-bogey six at the 16th where he finished at the back of the green, chipped short and three-putted from eight feet.  That could have been an echo of Enville but solid pars at the closing two holes ensured he stayed well clear to enjoy the moment on the 18th green.

Reynolds made a good defence of the title but he couldn't find his game when he needed it most and excursions to ditches at the ninth and 15th cost him penalty shots and double bogeys.

Cheshire's Philip Slater was the man to shoot 70, best of the day, for joint third place on 220 alongside Reynolds' Kent colleague Dave Jessup, who close with 75.

Squires can now look forward to rejoining the England seniors team for the European Seniors Championships at Fairhaven, a course he knows like the back of his hand, at the end of August and probably a place in the Seniors Home Internationals in September.