By Hamish Stuart
Former Walker Cup player Neil Roderick claimed his first Welsh Men’s Seniors Championship, forty years after claiming his first Welsh title.
The Clyne 58-year-old won the Welsh Stroke Play in 1984 and 1988, played in the 1989 Walker Cup alongside fellow Wales player Stephen Dodd, and against the likes of US stars Phil Mickelson and Jay Sigel, before turning professional on the European Tour.
No-one has ever completed a clean sweep of Welsh men’s amateur championships from Boys, Stroke Play, and Amateur through to Seniors. Roderick is the closest having now won two of the four, along with narrow defeats in the finals of both the Boys and the Amateur.
Champion Crowned
An impressive display of golf in testing conditions sees Neil Roderick (@ClyneGolfClub) stay at the top of the leaderboard to claim the 2024 Men’s Seniors Closed Championship.
Congratulations Neil!
View the final leaderboardhttps://t.co/mz4MoMZIbs pic.twitter.com/FwUhOc1iop
— Wales Golf | Golff Cymru (@wales_golf) June 13, 2024
Roderick overcame wet and windy conditions in Aberdovey to claim the Seniors title on Thursday [13 June], with defending champion Gwyn Jones, Radyr, in second place, three shots back. Langland Bay’s Richard Evans was third.
“I am absolutely delighted to have won this prestigious event. It was quite a battle in the wind and the rain and it was hard to hang on,” said pharmaceutical company worker, Roderick.
“I have entered three times and this is the first time I have won. I still work and since regaining my amateur status in 2003, I have mainly been playing social and club golf.
“I lost in the final of the Welsh Boys on the 18th and lost the final of the Welsh Amateur on the 20th, so it is nice to get this one.
“Back in the 80s, I was a full-time amateur playing nearly every week, so my game was a lot sharper than it is now. Mainly, I just play the club medals and a couple of these events a year because I am still working.
“I have always enjoyed playing golf and practicing, so I just love playing the game.
“It was nice to be back at Aberdovey. The Welsh Stroke Play was here in 1983, but I had not played here again until two years ago, which is odd, because it is one of the best courses in Great Britain.”
Roderick was a key player as Wales came close to winning the Seniors Home Internationals last season, and has happy memories of his amateur matches as well.
“I had a successful amateur career and some good memories from playing in the Walker Cup, playing against a team including Phil Mickelson – while I got a halve against Jay Sigel, who also played on the PGA Tour for many years,” he said.
“I enjoyed the Home Internationals last year. We should have won – we lost seven games on the last hole, so if those had gone our way we would have done.”
Wales Golf Competitions Manager, Dan Fullager, added: “Congratulations to Neil on an excellent performance in the difficult conditions of the final day, as well as the more pleasant weather of the first two days.
“Aberdovey was in excellent condition for this event, as usual, while the support of the staff and volunteers was integral in making it a success.”