BRAMHALL professional Richard Green (pictured with his trophy) ended many years of near misses as he was crowned as the Manchester Alliance Golfer of the Year at Haydock Park.

The Alliance President's Day provides the climax to the busy winter season of the Alliance, which is the biggest in the UK, as the Order of Merit is decided with the winner receiving the Merit Trophy and a handy cheque for £2000 donated by Alliance Life President Archie Preston.

Richard has been vying with Alliance Captain Mike Hollingworth, the Denton professional at the top of the Merit table for six months with the leaders changing place on a regular basis.

Mike went into the final shoot-out with a slender three point lead and Green knew he had to finish ahead of him and in the top five pros to overhaul him.

They were playing together and it went to the final putt on the 18th green with Richard holing a ten-footer to finish on 75, one shot ahead of his rival.

There remained a long wait for Richard before he found out that it was enough to take the lead before he was able to celebrate.

And he showed his gratitude to the work done by the Alliance officials by donating £500 to be added to the pot for the match-play championship over the next two years.

Richard said: "It is a great relief to at last shed the bridesmaid's tag I have carried for so many years.

"It has been a great battle with Mike who has been a superb captain this year and was hoping to make it a hat-trick of Merit titles and it certainly went to the wire.

"I decided to donate some of my winnings back to the Alliance which does such a great job for pros and amateurs throughout the year and now I can look forward to defending my title next season.

President's Day winner for the second successive year was Green's former assistant pro Jon Cheetham, now the pro at Mobberley.

Jon posted a superb 66 to finish a shot ahead of Leigh's Andrew Bauguley and on 69 were David Valentine (Chorlton), Craig Corrigan (Haigh Hall) and Denis Durnian (Styal).

Lymm's Anthony Millar won the Alliance assistant pro's order of merit and a cheque for £500.

The top amateur was Sale's Ken Jepson with 66, losing the President's Trophy on a cpo to Cheetham with Leigh's Bernard Hessian pipping Jim Cox (Greenmount)