STOKE PARK golfers Kevin Freeman and Luke Rusher have won the prestigious London Amateur Foursomes for the third time – the first pair to win the competition on three occasions for more than 50 years.

Freeman, who plays off a handicap of plus one, and Rusher, a plus-two handicapper, played five rounds of scratch foursomes at the Berkshire Golf Club in mid-October. The final, however, was postponed owing to bad weather and subsequently completed last weekend.

Freeman and Rusher returned to the Berkshire to see off the challenge of John Ambridge and Doug Cameron of Moor Park Golf Club to secure the title, and its accompanying oversized trophy, with a 3 & 2 victory.

The Championship is contested by 64 teams – this year from 62 clubs – with the final rotating between the Berkshire, Moor Park and Walton Heath.

All three victories for the Stoke Park pair have come at the Berkshire and such is their liking for the venue that they have now won 21 of the 22 matches they have played over the red and blue courses in this event.

This year’s success began with a comfortable 6 & 5 win over Hartley Wintney before a last-32 encounter with Windlesham who provided stiffer opposition before losing 2 & 1.

The third round and quarter-finals saw the in-form pair play their best golf in the event with two more 6 & 5 wins against Pyrford and Walton Heath. They made 12 birdies in the 26 holes they played that day.

The semi-finals pitted them against Sutton Green and the duo fought back from a hole down after four holes to win the match 4 & 3 with their sixth birdie of the round.

The historic competition is open to any club within a 40-mile radius of Charing Cross and dates back to 1907 when it was won by Woking Golf Club, for who legendary golf writer Bernard Darwin was one of the two competitors.

Slough Observer:

PHOTO: Stoke Park director of golf, Stuart Collier (left): “We’ve seen success for the ladies, men and juniors, and we could not be more proud."

Other well-known names on the roll of honour include renowned course designers CK Cotton, for Stoke Poges Golf Club in 1927, and JJF Pennink, for Ashdown Forest in 1936.

Current European tour professional Callum Shinkwin – one of several former Walker Cup players to find success in the event – also won the trophy in 2012 with Moor Park.

In addition to Freeman and Rusher’s three titles (2007, 2013 and 2016) Stoke Park, in his previous guise as Stoke Poges Golf Club, has recorded five other successes in the competition with Cotton in 1927, 1933, 1977, 1984 and 1993.

Victory in the London Amateur Foursomes completes an exceptional year for Stoke Park, where members have won the Bucks Shield Challenge for a fourth successive year and claimed the prestigious National Golf Club Challenge.

Individually, Conor Gough, 13, won the English Boys Under-14 Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship, and he was joined by five other Stoke Park juniors in the regional U16 England training squad announced last month.

Stuart Collier is director of golf at Stoke Park. He said: Claiming the London Amateur Foursomes title for a third occasion is an outstanding achievement and caps a wonderful year across the board here at Stoke Park.

“We’ve seen success for the ladies, men and juniors, and we could not be more proud.

“The quality of golf – and of the course – is arguably as good as it has been for decades and it’s really appreciated by members, and also by visitors and corporate golf day guests.

“The only issue our golfers have now is topping what they’ve achieved in 2016.”