BEAT the panel used to be a popular television game. But no-one indeed could beat the Pannal in the north-east final of the Lombard Trophy.

Played at Pannal GC in Harrogate the final was won by the host club pairing of assistant professional Richard Nutten and four-handicapper Craig Hunter.

They headed 39 other duos to bag a place in the Grand Final of Europe's biggest pro-am competition to be held at San Lorenzo GC in Portugal's Algarve in September.

It was a case of home knowledge maximised to the full by the Nutten-Hunter axis.

They carded a superb nett 64, an eight under-par round that was the epitome of teamwork.

The 23-year-old Nutten birdied the fourth, 11th, 14th and 16th holes, while Hunter, the current club champion, had birdies at the eighth and 13th to set up their trip to the sun after winning on a better back nine countback.

The Bridlington Links GC duo of Stephen Raybould-Peter Darley were sixth on 66, while Heworth's Stephen Burdett-Andrew Holmes were joint 12th on 68.YORK Union of Golf Clubs crashed to a 28-8 defeat to their powerful Leeds Union counterparts at in an inter-union league match at Malton and Norton GC.

The Leeds team included Sand Moor's Simon Dyson, who was playing at his home Malton and Norton course, where he first learned the game. Also in the Leeds' ranks was Dyson's Yorkshire county team-mate Matthew Bugg of Selby GC.

Heworth's Nick Smith had a good day for York winning his singles and halving his foursomes alongside his Heworth club-mate Stephen Lockwood.

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