Son shines with an ace as Goodwood pair earn Gloria chance

The 11-year-old from Kirdford, West Sussex, holed his five-iron tee shot at the Downs course’s 145-yard par three 17^th to fire his team to a winning betterball score of 46 Stableford points.

And it turned out to be a vital moment of magic from the Plaistow Kirdford Primary School 19-handicapper as runners-up Martin and Nicky Vanstone narrowly missed out on countback after also finishing on 46 points.

It now means the father and son duo will take their place among the other regional winners at Stoke Park Country Club in September with a stunning prize luxury golf holiday at the five-star Gloria Hotels & Resorts in Belek, Turkey up for grabs.

The competition is held in association with Elegant Golf Resorts – specialists in luxury golf holidays – and Monarch and boasts a top prize of an all-inclusive stay including flights at the lavish Mediterranean five-star resort.

Ethan, who revealed he has been discussing the possibility of notching a hole-in-one over breakfast, could not wipe the grin from his face as he celebrated victory.

He said: “It’s funny because I had been talking about hitting a hole-in-one with my dad that morning. But I just hit it perfectly, it rolled up and went in – then everybody went crazy!

“There was a group behind us on the tee and they saw it as well – everybody was cheering. It was an amazing feeling and everyone was congratulating me after the round. Now I can’t wait to play at Stoke Park and hopefully win the holiday.”

Dad Nathan said: “Ethan played brilliantly and it was a moment we will never forget. It was his first hole-in-one in a competition – but he’s actually done it twice before!”

It was a fitting moment for the victorious pair and was the clear highlight of the Goodwood battle.

The competition now moves on to Stoke Park Country Club, Spa & Hotel on May 14 before subsequent qualifiers at clubs including Cranleigh Golf & Country Club, Helensburgh Golf Club, The Carrick at Cameron House, The Mere Golf Resort & Spa and Mottram Hall.

The eventual winners will be flying from London Gatwick to Antalya airport in Turkey with scheduled leisure airline Monarch. Antalya is one of more than 40 destinations that Monarch flies to from its five UK bases including London Gatwick, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds Bradford and London Luton .