John Deeble - a Matchplay warm-up win

We asked John Deeble (GB) 6 hole Pitch and Putt has a future! “The 6 hole matchplay is a fantastic competition - a great way to start an event and everyone who entered it was keen to win it. This 6 hole event is something that should be at all the opens and I was very impressed with it.”

John Deeble proudly reflected on three great matches to win the event all against players from Ireland.  “The first couple of rounds have a more fun feel.  Then it's gets serious when players get to the last 16 and have a chance of winning. I was 1 down to Donal Duggan playing the last.  He stuck the ball close for a potential birdie and I made a hole in one on the difficult 6th to force the match to extra holes, which I won on the next with a birdie. Next was John Cahill where I played solid and made no mistakes and managed to make my way through to the final with John Ross Crangle.”

Deeble was under no illusions about the difficulty if that particular task.  “I know John and what a great player he is so I knew that I would have to make birdies to win.  Not many outside of me probably expected me to come out on top. I holed a decent length putt on the 2nd for birdie and held a 1up lead playing the 5th. From history I know that if you allow top players any chance they tend to take it so I played for the pin on 5th to try and end the match. I hit a perfect pitch to within a foot and took the match 2&1.”

A European success feels good, even if it was only the Matchplay warm up “It was a very satisfying win.  The €320 prize money was great but more importantly it showed that I can mix it with the best in Europe and I was looking forward to the weekend.“

Things didn’t quite take-off from there.  “Unfortunately for me my scoring was not as good as I wanted or maybe deserved on the Saturday. I was very disappointed with -4 for the first round and could have been -8 on another day but that is Pitch and Putt.

John Deeble has been a fixture on the international Pitch and Putt scene for well over a decade and is a real contender. “I travelled with genuine ambitions of winning and was disappointed with my final score but overall the weekend was fantastic.  The course was in stunning condition and everything went smooth and on time. We ended the weekend with a worthy new European champion and it was a great success.”

Pitch and Putt development at home is slow but John Deeble remains bouyant.  “In GB there is very little progress but we are running the first British international Open next year, which we hope will not only attract the best players from around Europe but also encourage some growth in the UK.