Rabbich finds cutting edge

ALL YOURS . . .Crompton and Royton captain Keith Banham presents Chris Rabbich with the Royton Sword.

GOLF: THREE was the magic number for Chris Rabbich in the Royton Sword.

The 21-year-old, from High Crompton, recorded eight successive threes, six of them birdies, on his way to a stunning one-shot victory in the latest event in the Mitsushiba Northern Order of Merit.

He was certainly in tune with his game to see off Roger Smithies, of Manchester, at Crompton and Royton.

It was a cracking effort from Rabbich, who was swinging a golf club in anger for the first time in three-and-a-half months after tearing collateral ligaments in the little finger of his right hand.

The plus one handicapper was runner-up in the competition 12 months ago, ironically behind Smithies.

But he made no mistake on this occasion after his scoring frenzy inspired rounds of 70 and 69 for a 139 total.

Rabbich, who is in his second year at California Baptist University where he is studying sports science, said: “I thought I would go out and give it a go and see if I could scramble my way round.

“I tripled bogeyed the ninth, a par four, in the morning to reach the turn at three over par, but finished the round with five straight threes.

“I started my second round with three threes, but took a four on the par-three fourth, otherwise it would have been 27 shots for nine holes.

“It was a crazy spell and my best scoring sequence.”

Rabbich’s victory in the Royton Sword comes on the back of other major triumphs on the local circuit.

He won the Oldham and District Championship in 2008 and clinched the Royton Club Championship 12 months ago.

Rabbich, who has played at High Barn since the age of 12, returns to America at the end of next month to continue his studies.

“My aim is to be a professional at some level,” said Rabbich. “Otherwise, I will have my degree to fall back on.

“I mainly play team tournaments in America against other colleges or universities, but there are individual competitions as well.”

Hopwood veteran Smithies fired two rounds of 70 to finish on 140.

Crompton and Royton’s James Frizzell ended up a highly-respectable sixth, despite shooting a first round of 79.

Frizzell made amends in the afternoon by carding an excellent 68.

Club-mate Jordan Flint was nine shots behind Rabbich after back-to-back rounds of 74.