The Isle of Man Stroke Play Championship reached its conclusion in glorious conditions at Ramsey Golf Club on Saturday. 

Sponsored by Haven Homes, it consisted of the final 36 holes with Jamie Arneil taking a four-shot lead into the day following his exploits at Peel on May 5. 

While his playing partners Chris Kneen and Mark Sutton both hoped to put some pressure on the leader, this did not transpire with Arneil extending his overall winning margin to eight shots with rounds of 67 and 71.  

This is the second time he has won the title and, while he stated that he had not been in form recently, he was surprised to win the with an under par total which bodes well for the rest of the season. 

In second place was Kneen who beat Daryl Callister into third on the back 18. In the nett section, Keith W. Ward was the best ahead of Arneil. 

In the women’s championship, Shirley Price had a one-shot lead going into the final two rounds but did not play her best golf and Emma Noon came through to take her first Isle of Man title by seven shots, with Price second and Diane Neale third. 

This is great reward for the amount of dedicated practice that Noon puts in and is now an island champion the same as her brother Robert who was match play champion last year and hopes to retain his title at Mount Murray later in the summer. 

In the nett section, the winner was the aforementioned Neale of Rowany. 

It was nice to American collegiate golfer Lea Dawson back playing in an Isle of Man event and she shot 71, 70 to be the top player at Ramsey. This is golf of the highest standard which is great to see. 

The top 30 golfers other than Robert Noon - who was already exempt from the matchplay championship - have now achieved exempt status should they wish to enter, with a further 25 places being available from the WA Kirkpatrick Trophy which is played next month.  

The remainder of the field will be balloted on handicap to make up a total of 84 players. 

Thanks go to sponsor Haven Homes and the staff at Ramsey for helping make the event a success. 

Thanks also go to the Isle of Man Golf team of Vicky Noon, Shirley Strathdee, Bob Quilliam and president Stephen Worthing who gave up a lot of their leisure time to support the event. 

ANDREW HORNE