HOME advantage and little in the way of expectation paid off in a big way for Bury Golf Club's Tom Cooney when he clinched the Bury District Golf Association Men's Championship on Wednesday evening writes PHIL THORP.

Obviously, the 19-year-old's familiarity with the Unsworth Hall course stood him in good stead to see off the challenge of reigning champion Ashley Siddle and lift the Vardon Trophy.

But just as important was the lack of pressure brought about by a spell of indifferent form leading up to the prestigious competition.

On reaching the final against Rossendale Golf Club's Siddle, the Whitefield-based player went into the competition regarding himself as second favourite but pulled out all the stops for a sensational win on the 18th hole.

"Even though it was my home course I still felt I was a big underdog in the final," he explained.

"It wasn't that big an advantage really, as Ashley is familiar with Bury and has played it many times.

"My form hasn't been good in recent weeks and I really just wanted to see how far I could go, so it was great to get to the final and win it."

A member at Bury since 1998 the former Philips High School pupil has clearly benefited from his time at Myerscough Golf Academy but now works for Northern Golf equipment suppliers.

It's only the second time that the three handicapper has entered the men's championship and in the qualifying round it was Bury clubmate Sean Doherty who looked like being the man to beat.

Rounds of 65 and 68 saw Doherty finish nine strokes ahead of the other eight qualifiers with Rossendale's Mark Whittaker and Lowes Park's Mark Thornton in joint second place with 142.

Nevertheless, Cooney qualified in sixth place with rounds of 72 and 75 and from then on there was no stopping him.

In Monday evening's quarter finals he was pitched against the aforementioned Thornton and came out on top 2-up.

Then, in the semi-finals 24 hours later Thornton's brother Daniel was next to get the Cooney treatment and he went the way of his sibling although it took two extra holes to separate the protagonists.

That set up the intriguing final against Siddle who had seen off Bury's Matt Berry 3 & 2 in the quarter-finals and took the wind out of Doherty's sails in the semis winning 2-up.

The 36 hole Nett Prize went to Lowes Park's Carl Moore (66 + 71 = 137) while the Best 18 Gross Prize went to Carl's clubmate Zak Leonard with 72.

QUALIFIERS

S. Doherty (B)...65-58-133

M. Whittaker (R)...73-69-142

M. Thornton (LP)...72-70-142

A. Siddle (R)...69-74-143

M. Berry (B)...74-70-144

T. Cooney (B)...72-75-147

D. Thornton (LP)...74-74-148

M. Parsons (R)...72-76-148

QUARTER FINALS

S. Doherty beat M. Parsons 1-up; D. Thornton beat M. Whittaker 3 & 2; T. Cooney beat M. Thornton 2-up; A. Siddle beat M. Berry 3 & 2.

SEMI-FINALS

A. Siddle beat S. Doherty 2-up; D. Thornton lost to T. Cooney on the 20th.

FINAL

T. Cooney beat A. Siddle 2-up.