It is the second time he has held this title. The first was in 1987 when he beat his then boss Bob Larratt by 2 and 1 at Glen Gorse.

This is the first time he has competed in this tournament since his initial success, so there has been a long wait to move back into the winner’s circle for this event.

Morris got into the match play stages of the 2008 championship only when another professional withdrew late on. But he made the most of his chance.

He had a tense tussle in the final against Craig Shave (Whetstone). Morris won at the fourth extra hole when the climax moved into sudden-death.

Shave was also losing finalist in 2007 when Tour pro Matthew Cort from Harborough took the title.

Morris reached the final when he beat Adam Brown (Scraptoft) at the first extra hole – he had an eagle at the 19th, and he collected another against Shave on the opening hole of the final.

He also chipped in at the fourth and was 3-up at the turn, increasing his lead at the tenth.

But Shave then bounced back strongly, winning the next four holes to square the encounter. Morris hit a 5-iron at the par 3 15th and slotted his long birdie putt to edge ahead again. But he was out-of-bounds over the back at 16 leaving Shave, with a conceded birdie, level again.

When the 17th and 18th were halved, the clash went into sudden-death.They halved the first three holes, but Morris clinched the crown when he was on the green at the fourth, and took two putts to pip Shave, whose tee shot was off the green to the right side of the putting surface, forcing him to chip back.

Morris was delighted to win this tournament again. He said: “I played pretty well throughout the two days of match play. It is a long spell since I was champion for the first time with having posts outside the county, so not being eligible to compete.

“I was pleased to be able to play again now I am at Kibworth as club pro and hope the members will also be thrilled by my success.”

There was a curtain-raiser pro/am from which the leading county professionals qualified for the match play stage.

Cort was unable to defend because of his European Tour commitments.

Lee Clarke (Beeston Fields), a former county amateur first team golfer, shot 1-under-par-71 to win the pro medal on the pro/am day. There was a three-way tie on 72 between Shave, and Ian Lyner (The Leicestershire) and Jason Powell (Hinckley) who were both unable to compete in the ko rounds.