Hole in one but Luke Goddard still shot
behind in English amateur qualifying

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Luke Goddard holed-in-one in the opening qualifying round for the English amateur championship at Woodhall Spa, yet it still left him a stroke behind joint leaders Sam Hutsby, Jason Barnes and James Robinson.
England international Hutsby, who was leading qualifier in the British amateur championship at Turnberry earlier this summer, signed for a five-under-par 68 containing two eagles but said: “I didn’t feel I played that well.”
The Hampshire 19-year-old eagled the long sixth, where he holed from sand, then had an eagle-3 at the last after firing a seven iron close. “I drove the ball well but I didn’t hole anything,” Hutsby added. “I would have taken that before going out but I need to work on my putting. I’m struggling with the putter but at least I’ve got a score in the bag and it’s all about qualifying.” Barnes, from Kent, who also shot 68, started like a train. The first three of his eight birdies came in the opening four holes but he gave them all back before the turn, including a lost ball at the par-3 eighth.
However, he came home in 32 strokes with five more birdies.
Robinson, 19, from Wigan, who plays out of the Southport & Ainsdale club, is on a mission after losing to eventual champion Danny Willett in the semi-finals a year ago. His 68 included seven birdies and he admitted: “I putted really well and holed some magical ones on the first 11 holes.”
Luke Goddard, winner of last week’s South of England stroke-play championship at Walton Heath, sank his pitching wedge tee shot at the 155yd fifth hole on the Hotchkin Course on his way to a 69.
It was his second ace in six weeks, the first coming in a Middlesex county event at his home club of Hendon.
“The hole was playing downwind and when I saw my playing partners go long with nine irons I switched to the wedge,” he said. Despite his eagle, Goddard wasn’t fortunate on the other par 3s, dropping shots at the eighth and 12th.
But a run of three successive birdies from the 14th plus another at the last saw him home in 69. Suffolk’s Michael Swan matched Goddard’s 69 with five birdies. A member of the England under 21 squad from the Stoke by Nayland club, Swan was delighted with his return. “I didn’t feel it was that tough although conditions were a bit bouncy,” he said.
Jack Bartlett from Sussex was another with 69 with five of his six birdies coming in a back nine of 33.
A 69 was the best return on the Bracken Course, the lead there being shared by Midlander Ben Stafford and Michael Curry from Durham. Stafford started with 11 straight pars then found three birdies in a homeward 33.
Curry, twice the Durham champion, had six birdies in his 69 while admitting that his game is “very inconsistent at the moment."
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