ALL Hallows High School student Alex Weare had his finest result in his blossoming career as he won the prestigious Junior Open at Manchester Golf Club.

The 16-year-old has been able to devote more time to his golf recently, and it paid off, with his handicap reduced by three shots in six weeks and he is now down to 5.7 at his home club Withington.

Weare began playing three years ago with a handicap of 41 at Withington, where his dad Paul has been a member for 21 years.

With coaching and help from John Watson, now based at Styal, and home pro Steve Marr, Weare cut his handicap by 27 shots in 18 months.

In the Manchester Junior Open among a quality field of over 60 he had the best gross score of 76.

Weare said: "I will be doing A levels in Maths, Biology and Sports Science over the next two years and I’ll be looking to win either a golf scholarship to the USA or on the PGA scholarship at The Belfry.

"My immediate aim is to get my handicap down to 3.5 by the end of the season and next year to scratch and break into Cheshire County coaching for juniors.

"My main strength at the moment is my short game and my efforts in practice seem to be paying off.

"My golfing idol is American Kenny Perry who has shown a great work ethic in aiming to make the USA Ryder Cup team."

Macclesfield’s men played for the R Stevens Trophy and C Massey was in great form, winning Division One with 64, three ahead of D McCullough and DF Bye.

Chris Bull hit a 66 to take Division Two from Alan Livesey.

Macclesfield juniors played for the Lady Captain’s Shield and Declan Rudd led in with 40, one ahead of Sam Lowe.

Davenport ladies played a singles Stableford and Carol Tonge topped Division One with 37 from Pat Impey.

In Division Two Anne Wilkinson led in with 39, two clear of Eileen Donvaband.

Patricia Massey was the main lady in Division Three with 38, four clear of Gail Werner.

Davenport’s men played a two-from-three Stableford and the top team with 88 points were Max Aitken, John Sturmey and Neil Whittaker.

Singles Stableford play at Shrigley Hall saw Captain Brian Hopkins in charge with 41 points, five clear of Mark Sharples and Phil Smethurst.

There will be a large number of local professionals and some top amateurs competing in this year’s Manchester Open, run in association with the MEN.

It will be staged at Marriott Worsley Park in October and is the last of this year’s PGA North Region tournaments.

As well as the main title, the North Region PGA Order of Merit will be decided and the top three players qualify for the Srixon PGA play-offs at Royal Liverpool on October 7-8, where they will compete for places in European Tour events.

There is no charge for admission to the event. There are also a few places left for teams in the pro-am competition on October 6.

Contact the PGA North Region on 01204 496137 for more details.