Charlie Lesser and his guest Tom Davis are the Champions of the 2022 Invitation Shoot Out Tournament.
Charlie and Tom were the latest addition to the field, only joining at 4:30pm the day before the event begun after the field was affected by COVID withdrawals in the days leading up to the competition. After winning the St. Andrews flight 5 points ahead of the runners-up Philip Donald and Kate Rowe, they progressed to the Championship Shoot Out, the one-hole sudden death finale on Mill no.9 against the eight other flight winning pairs.
Charlie and Tom matched the lowest recorded winning score of the Shoot Out of nett two-under-par in the gruelling and tense nett aggregate format. Both Charlie and Tom hit good drives down the fairway. Charlie’s second shot went a little wayward ending up near the ladies tee box on Mill 1 where he hit what he described as “the best pitch shot of his life”, it landed at the top of the green and ran down the slope hitting the pin and stopping inches next to the hole. Tom’s approach shot ended just short of the green, his chip shot was one of the best of the day, running along the top and catching the slope with the correct speed to finish about two feet from the hole. Charlie and Tom proceeded to make their putts for two 4 nett 3s.
The eight other flight winning pairs were:
- Monte Rei – Rob Whittick & Jeremy Wauters
- Augusta – William Ashdown & Seb Horst
- Muirfield – Tony Fan & Cong Fu
- Brookline – Paul Budge & Gerry Penfold
- Southern Hills – Hugh Keeble & Nat Hockings
- Church – Ian Cartwright & Ivan Forster
- Mill – Michael Elysee & Ian Gibson
- Garden – Paul Tunnacliffe & Peter Andrews