A PAIR of North Yorkshire golfers have been celebrating after teaming up to take an outstanding third place in the finals of The Daily Telegraph national matchplay competition in Portugal.

Julian Beer and Roger Parry, both members of Bedale Golf Club, were one of 2,580 pairs to enter the competition. They came through six knockout rounds before finishing joint first out of 40 teams in the regional finals at Woodsome Hall.

That won them a dream trip to take on 28 other pairs in the national finals at the Vale de Lobo Golf Club on the Algarve, which will be the venue for the Portuguese Open in April.

Over four days and 72 holes of golf, the Bedale pair returned scores of 35, 45, 39 and 40 points to claim third place in the Stableford better ball competition.

Their performance won each of them a Wilson golf bag worth £150 and a silver trophy.

Mr Beer, a 39-year-old IT consultant from Leeming Bar, said: "It was a great place to be, a millionaire's playground. The only difficulty was going from winter conditions at home to playing in the sunshine on lightning fast greens, but the course was in fantastic condition."

It was the first event the duo had entered as a team. Mr Beer stepped in at the last minute when Mr Parry, a financial advisor from Aiskew, was forced to look for a new partner after his stepfather injured his back.

Mr Beer has won various club competitions since joining Bedale as a junior. He was the club champion in 1994 and captained the first team in 2000.