MATTHEW Roberts ended as men’s club champion at Sonning following a dramatic two days.

With the greens as quick as members could remember, some tough pin positions and the tees a long way back, Roberts managed to overcome those challenges to card a remarkable 71 in his opening round.

This gave him a six-shot lead from three players on 77, with a couple more a shot further back and two carding 79s.

With the top 24 plus ties qualifying for the second round, a total of 26 players went out on the Sunday.

A sign of the drama which was to come came early in the leader’s round when he incurred a two-shot penalty for playing the wrong ball.

With Damien Hewitt – who carded 78 on the opening day – playing magnificently, his second-round 71 turned up the pressure on Roberts and gave him the clubhouse lead on a combined 149.

The pressure began to tell and Roberts ended up recording a 78, leading to a three-hole play-off on 12, 17 and 18.

The pair both shot five on the 12th, but it looked like Hewitt had taken the advantage when his approach to 17 ended on the green and Roberts missed to the left.

However, he three-putted, and with Roberts playing a remarkable chip to eight foot before sinking a testing putt, he had a one-shot lead going down the last.

Roberts struck a slightly wayward drive, but got some luck when he finished clear of the trees on the right, while his rival struck a superb tee shot only to nestle in a bunker.

Both were short irons into the green with their third shots after choosing to lay up, but with the pressure cranking up, Hewitt missed to the left and Roberts could only find the fringe on the right of the green.

Hewitt played a fine chip, but could only two-putt for a six, and with Roberts holding his nerve to three-putt, they shared the last with sixes allowing the latter to take the title by one stroke.