Gosfield Lake Golf Club is through to the fourth round of the Mail on Sunday National competition.

Victory over Purdis Heath GC from Ipswich put them through to the next stage.

Following horrendous overnight rain and gale force winds the Gosfield course had recovered by the mid morning tee off time when the first golfers teed off.

Hero on the day was club captain Malachy Shields who was called on to play at the last moment when Mark Francis arrived early, but with a dressing over one eye following an accident the previous day.

The opening game began badly for Gosfield Lake when Dale Argent, leading after the first nine holes, went down to Adam Glencastle by two holes, however the next game wiped out this result when Ersan Dobran defeated Craig Rumens by 6 and 5 to bring the teams level.

Barney De Beer put Gosfield in the lead with a 2 up victory over Shyan Patel in the third game.

Reports from the course was not good with the remaining two Gosfield players both down after the opening nine holes.

Shields overcame Tom Worne by a hole to put the match result beyond doubt. Similar heroics were going on in the last match between the two low handicappers, with Gosfield’s George Castle overcoming a four hole deficit to draw on the final hole in the game with Simon Godbold.

The match was won in a flattering 3.5 to 1.5 but the fight back in the last two games will be long remembered as a fitting start to the new season.