Sidmouth Golf Club's James Pickard was celebrating after winning the South West of England Championship at Tiverton at the weekend.

Pickard produced two highly impressive rounds of 72 and 75 on a bouncy Tiverton course to be crowned champion.

And a club spokesperson paid tribute to his achievement, saying: "Whilst the greens at Tiverton were amazing you definitely needed to have ability, patience and a true understanding of scoring around a difficult golf course to win this trophy.

"Great stuff James, we are proud of you!"

Sidmouth's seniors had their return match against Cricket St Thomas on an incredibly hot day and with the course being so dry conditions were very challenging.

Captain for the day Brian Rice and partner Len Wright had a steady start, leading by two at the turn, but their rivals hit back to win the next two holes to square matters.

Wright then played the 13th, 14th and 15th holes superbly to win all three and clinch a 3&2 victory.

Phil Spencer and David Hall were one down after nine and, after losing the 11th, 12th and 14th holes, suffered a 3&2 defeat.

But Brian Margison and Colin Paddon only lost one hole and not until the 12th when they were already four up, as they completed a 4&3 win to restore Sidmouth's lead.

Steve Nunn and James Scrimshaw were ahead for all of their match and ran out 5&3 winners, but seniors captain John White and Chris Grubb had a much tighter contest and lost two down on the last.

The final pairing of Paul Blay and Rob Reed had a comfortable 5&3 victory to ensure a 4-2 Sidmouth win on the day and, after the 3-3 draw at Cricket St Thomas, a 7-5 aggregate success.