The Life of Riley!

Brookdale golfer Andy Riley produced the round of his life to claim the prestigious Oldham and District Chronicle Cup by a massive five-shot margin at Saddleworth.

The 56-year-old engineer played to two with a gross 73 on the 71-par Mountain Ash course to leave the locals astonished at the score.

His 73-12-61 return set him apart from the field, with the chasers led by former cricketer Bob Arrowsmith's 76-10-66 that on many other occasions would have been good enough to claim the silverware.

But this was Andy's day - crowned off when, having made an early birdie at the fourth, he holed his second shot for eagle on the tough par-4 13th and then got up in two on the par-5 18th for a finishing birdie.

His only real blemish was a double bogey five at the short 15th.

"To play to two was amazing," beamed Andy.

"I shot a nett 79 last weekend at Brookdale and then a 71, and this week I went down to the club and played a couple of holes and something just clicked."

Andy, who has previously tasted major success at his home club on Captain's Day, paid tribute to Brookdale club professional Karen Heywood for the work she has done with him in her hi-tech swing room.

Andy said: "I have found it really helpful and the work Karen has done has certainly helped me. It definitely paid off today."

Andy's runaway success completes a District grand-slam for the Riley family as brother and low-handicapper Mark has won all the other district titles.

"The Chronicle Cup is the only one he hasn't won so I take great delight in beating him to this prize," said Andy, who is married with three grown-up children and lives in Failsworth.

Andy's clubmate Pete Buckley, vice captain this year at the Woodhouses course, was also in the prizes as he claimed best gross with a solid level par 72.

The divisional prizes were won by Werneth's Kevin Roberts (74-6-68) and C&R's Jordan Fint (72-4-68) in Division One and Saddleworth's Andy Thornton (84-17-67) and Brookdale's A West (85-16-69) in Division Two.

Host club captain Kevin Rafferty paid tribute to the Oldham and District Golf Society and the Chronicle's new owners Revolution Radio, for making sure that the trophy first played for in 1923 maintains its tradition as the premier prize in local golf.

David Whaley, secretary of the ODGS and former Managing Editor at the Chronicle, presented the prizes and thanked Saddleworth GC for all their efforts in hosting the tournament with over 120 competitors from the five local clubs - Brookdale, C&R, Oldham, Saddleworth and Werneth, where qualifying competitions were held earlier in the season.

The next event on the ODGS calendar is the 36-hole District Championship scratch competition which takes place at Werneth on Saturday, July 7.

 Entry forms are now posted in local clubs and this event is also extended to invite low handicap golfers at other clubs competing in the Oldham and District Golf League.