Last updated 19:51, Thursday, 04 September 2008

A WORKINGTON golf club trio has finished second in the English Club Championships.

TRIO: The Workington three – William Bowe (top), Simon Young (middle) and Mark Cowan (bottom)

And they didn’t know until getting a mobile phone call at Penrith as they travelled back from The Wiltshire course near Swindon.

William Bowe, Simon Young and Mark Cowan were representing Cumbria at the championships having won the county strokeplay title.

After the first day at The Wiltshire they were lying seventh out of 34 English county teams having scored 218 (Bowe 72, Young 71, Cowan 76).

As they were faced with a long drive back to Cumbria they arranged with organisers to have an early start on the course on the second day.

They scored 217 (Bowe 72, Young 71, Cowan 74) on the second day for a total of 435 and set off back to Cumbria not expecting to figure particularly strongly in the final result.

But as other clubs struggled through the second day, Workington gradually climbed the leader board until they finished second, four strokes behind the winners Hallowes Golf Club, near Sheffield.

It was the third year in succession that Workington had represented Cumbria at the event and by far their best result.

Tom Stout, secretary of the Cumbria Union of Golf Clubs, said it was probably one of the best performances ever by a Cumbrian club.