GOLF novice Jamie Corrigan has successfully defended the national golf title he won last year.

Mr Corrigan, executive officer of Ferryhill Town Council, could not believe it when he won the Society of Local Council Clerks' annual conference competition last year.

Part of his prize was to organise this year's competition.

He said: "I only went and won it again. Last year when I won I didn't even know how to do the Stableford scoring system, I handed my card in and hadn't a clue I'd won. But I've played a bit more this year, and I went around the course in 91, which for me is a good score. I didn't play a bad shot all day."

But Mr Corrigan's win was part of a double for Ferryhill Town Council, with project assistant Alan Grey also claiming a piece of the glory.

Mr Corrigan said: "The icing on the cake was that there is a competition for the best guest and Alan won that, so he has got a crystal bowl as well. There was talk of it being a fix on the night when the two of us turned up."