With the introduction of the EuroDov Tour Order of Merit in 2021 the Tour also announced the introduction of the Harry Vardon Trophy – presented to the player with the best average score of the season (minimum 4 out of 8 counting rounds).

Harry Vardon was a professional golfer from Jersey and made up one third of the Great Triumvirate of John Henry Taylor and James Braid. Vardon holds the record for the most Open Championships won with 6 and won the US Open in 1900.

In 1974, Vardon was chosen as one of the initial group of inductees into the World Golf Hall of Fame. His most prestigious medals, including those from his six British Open Championships, are on display in a tribute to him at the Jersey Museum. In the annals of golf, he is considered one of the greats of the game. In 2000, Vardon was ranked as the 13th best golfer of all time by Golf Digest magazine.

In 2021 David McColgan was the recipient of the Harry Vardon Trophy with a scoring average of 70.5 and in 2022 the trophy has a new home, OoM rookie Paul Gowens who recorded an impressive average of 69.33.

We had the chance to catch-up with Paul after the Tour Championships. Congratulations on lifting your fourth accolade of the OoM season - how does it feel?

“Evening guys and thank you – it feels like a really nice way to end a fantastic season of golf. I really enjoyed the chat in the clubhouse afterwards and learning about who Harry Vardon was and why the trophy is named after him.

You are never far from a golfing lesson from David, historical or technical.”

Your score average of 69.33 led the field in 2022 and is the record low beating last years winner by over a stroke - how does that make you feel?

“I think it shows that I have improved and played well in the competitions. Putting in regular cards and playing different places has help me improve over this first year and apart from a few holes each round I am pretty consistent.”

You've become a bit of a specialist in multi-round average Trophies lifting the Harry Vardon and the Inchkeith trophy, what do you like so much about them?

“Firstly, I think these are great additions to the Order of Merit, it’s just a little something else to aim for. But I do think I benefited from the fact they average out your scores, so it does hide some bad holes and rounds.”

Many commentators have asked the question if you had played the first two events of the year, might you have won the overall OoM...what are your thoughts?

“I think there’s too many ‘ifs’ in that sentence. The truth is we’ll never know. However, there is nothing to guarantee good performances in those events and could easily have gone the other way and played really badly – at the end of the day I have played in as many as I could and had a fun doing so.”

Let's talk about Aberdour - you shot a season-low of 60 for your round, on your debut - was that the platform to stake a claim for the Harry Vardon trophy?

“Yes definitely - with a higher handicap at the start of the season and playing with two members in [Daniel] Peck and Barry [Cunningham] who help me around the course obviously helped and indeed helped with the confidence on being on the Tour.”

How does winning the Harry Vardon trophy set you up for 2023?

“I think it shows that just try and keep consistent and don’t focus to much on score and it will level out over the season, and you can be there or there abouts.”

Gowens’ performances through the year were the perfect example of consistency and with that came two victories at the MCM @ Aberdour and Kings Cup and lifted the Inchkeith Cup and Harry Vardon Trophy along the way. His 2022 season will go down in EuroDov Tour history as one of the greatest rookie seasons and many players and observers alike are already talking about what he might do in 2023.