Andrew Griffin shares this Golfing update. Ed
Bramshaw’s Alex Talbot was crowned Hampshire Junior Champion as the rain which swept across Test Valley Golf Club forced the organisers to abandon play during the second round and declare the result based on the morning score.
His two-under par round of 69 left the teenager two clear of defending champion Conor Richards from Shanklin and Sandown, as the 17-year-old Hampshire Boys player was denied the chance to become the first player to defend the title successfully since Brokenhurst Manor’s Martin Le Mesurier in 1993, at Corhampton.
Talbot, playing off a one-handicap, started from the 10th tee and despite dropping a shot at the par three 13th hole, got his round back on track immediately, bouncing back with a birdie four at the 602-yard 14th, the longest hole on the course.
Solid start for Richards
Richards, who finished second last year in the British Schools and Colleges Championship at St Andrews, made a very solid start from the 10th, also picking up a shot at the short 13th before reaching the turn without dropping a shot.
Seventeen-year-old Talbot, unaware of how crucial his back nine would turn out to be, stormed to the top of the leaderboard by birdieing the second and third holes – the latter a shorter par five at 533 yards – to move to two-under.
And the news for his main rival was not so good. Playing in the group ahead of Talbot, Richards suffered a double set back with a dropped shot at the par three fifth and compounded the error with a bogey five at the sixth.
Richards, who was a member of the Colts team that shared the trophy when Hampshire tied with Essex in the South East League Final at Rowlands Castle, in October, took advantage of the short par four seventh to make a birdie three which left him level at lunch. Even a bogey five at the 346-yard eighth did not dent Talbot’s confidence and he showed how much in control he was of his iron play with a second two of the day at the 172-yard ninth.
Incessant rain
Meon Valley’s George Saunders, who became an England U16 international late last season when he was capped against Wales, was looking to add the Hampshire Junior crown to the Under 16 title he won last year at Hockley, and the U14 crown he claimed at Corhampton in 2013.
But having spent the previous week feeling decidedly under the weather, he had to settle for a two-over par 73 in the first round. The youngster who finished third in the Sir Henry Cooper Masters, at Nizels, in Kent, last year came out with all guns blazing after lunch and raced to two-under par after 12 holes in his second round.
He looked likely to post the score to beat playing in the group behind Talbot, but as the afternoon wore on, the rain had been incessant enough to the point that the course could no longer cope with the prevailing conditions on top of a very wet winter.
Hampshire Golf secretary David Wheeler and his tournament committee were left with no alternative, but to call the 63 players into the clubhouse and abandon play for the day.
30 years since last championship abandoned
The last time the championship was abandoned completely was back in 1985 at Rowlands Castle, so at least Talbot could be crowned Junior Champion, and the first winner of the event from Bramshaw since England junior international Jack Singh-Brar, in 2011 and only the third winner from the New Forest club in the event’s 66-year history, and join the likes of past winners including Justin Rose, Sam Hutsby and Harry Ellis, on the trophy.
Only seven players have ever won the Hampshire U18 crown back to back, including future England Amateur Champion Kevin Weeks, from Brokenhurst (1973/74) and future European Tour player Richard Bland, a member at Bramshott Hill when he claimed his two titles in 1990 and 1991.
Shanklin lad in second place
Saunders had to settle for fifth despite all the drama while clubmate George Roberts, a member of the Hampshire U18 team that contested the English Boys Final for a third time in four years, was pipped for second place by Richards on countback, but the three handicapper’s nett 68 left him on top of the handicap leaderboard.
Meanwhile Corhampton’s Jamie Markwick, the son of former first team player Mark, who was also off three, took fourth place with a 72 to push his claims for a place in the Hampshire Boys team this summer.
Stoneham’s James Freeman was crowned Hampshire U14 Champion after the five handicapper carded a 78, which left him just outside the top 20 in the U18s competition, finishing one shot clear of Bramshaw’s 10-handicapper Joe Buenfield, who was last year’s U14 champion.
South Winchester’s Joshua Mulcahy, who was off 14, took the U14 handicap prize with a nett 69, just pipping 12-handicapper Thomas Chalk, from Hockley, on countback.
Images: U14 champion James Freeman (Stoneham) and Talbot with Hampshire Golf president John Moore (Blackmoor)
