BRABAZON TROPHY WINNER RAYMOND BEATEN IN FIRST ROUND
ENGLISH MEN'S AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP REPORT
FROM THE ENGLISH GOLF UNION WEBSITE
Neil Raymond’s hopes of adding the English Amateur Championship, supported by abacus, to the Brabazon Trophy he won last month were dashed in the first round when he was beaten by his England team-mate Paul Lockwood at Woburn.
The young Yorkshireman won 5 and 4 in what is his debut in the championship and he couldn’t have secured a bigger scalp following Tom Lewis’s shock late withdrawal on the eve of the event.
Lockwood, a former boy cap who made his full England debut against Spain in May, felt that Raymond hadn’t played badly but that he had had a lot of golf lately.
“This is my first English Amateur so you could say I have an unbeaten record,” he said. “I’m delighted to have beaten Neil but a few things went my way and it was closer than 5 and 4 while he missed a couple of putts near the end.
“I’ve not been ripping it recently but I just want to make myself difficult to beat. I hope it’s going to be a long week so the less holes I play the better.”
After both halved the first hole in bogeys, Lockwood won three holes in four from the third, two with birdies.
A Lockwood bogey at ten cut his lead but when he holed from eight feet on the 12th and Raymond missed from six the 19 year old was 3-up again.
Raymond then three-putted 13 and the match ended at the 14th when Lockwood holed from 15 feet for par and Raymond found another bogey.
Darren Wright, Raymond’s county and England team-mate also made an early exit, going down 3 and 2 to Shropshire and Herefordshire’s Ashley Chesters.
Chesters was in good form on the front nine, being three under par and 4-up at the turn. Wright won the next three holes to get back to 1-down but Chesters took the 14th and 15th for a fine victory.
Last year’s runner-up Warren Harmston is looking to go one better this time and made a good start with a 2 and 1 win over Matt Hill from nearby Leighton Buzzard.
“It wasn’t pretty,” said the Wentworth man. “I got 3-up through eight but I bogeyed 13 and he birdied 14 to cut my lead to one. But I took the 16th with a concession and managed to hang on. I didn’t hit it great but you need a bit of luck in 18 holes.”
So how does Harmston rate his chances this time? “This is a totally different course to last year at Little Aston. It’s longer and more demanding,” he added.
Harmston’s victory sets up an all-Wentworth clash in round two after England cap Steven Brown got the better of Frilford Heath’s Ashley Walton, also by 2 and 1.
“There’s life in the old dog yet,” declared Mark Wharton, after his 3 and 2 victory over Elliot Groves from Hampshire.
At 48, Wharton is the oldest man in the field but has the experience to go all the way. He won the first three holes and despite losing that lead by the turn, rebuilt it by taking three holes in-a-row from the 12th and held that to go through.
John Kemp, probably the next eldest at 43, and one of three Woburn members in the field, set up a second round tie another England international in Stiggy Hodgson.
Kemp beat Kent’s Jerome Titlow 2 and 1, while Hodgson came out on top 4 and 3 over Yorkshire’s Jamie Harrison.
Sam Whitehead, also from Woburn, was staring defeat in the face when he trailed boy cap Greg Payne by one hole on the 18th tee. But Payne three-putted to send the match into extra holes and he repeated it on the 19th to see Whitehead through.
Dave Coupland from Lincolnshire ran up the biggest win of the day with a 7 and 5 victory over Kent’s Darren Timms. Coupland eased in front with a chip-in eagle-three at the second and he also won the next.
Unfortunately, Timms was distinctly off form and Coupland won five successive holes from the sixth and although the Kent man pulled one back at the 12th, another error at the 13th brought a concession and a shake of hands.
The all-Geordie battle between Philip Ridden of City of Newcastle and Northumberland’s Kris Gray whose clubs are just a quarter of a mile apart, went the way of the former by 3 and 2.
England international Jack Senior needed 20 holes to shake off Darren Renwick and now meets the United States-based Charlie Bull, who put out Ben Loughrey by 1 hole.
TO ACCESS THE ENGLISH GOLF UNION RESULTS AND LIVE SCORING SERVICE
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FROM THE ENGLISH GOLF UNION WEBSITE
Neil Raymond’s hopes of adding the English Amateur Championship, supported by abacus, to the Brabazon Trophy he won last month were dashed in the first round when he was beaten by his England team-mate Paul Lockwood at Woburn.
The young Yorkshireman won 5 and 4 in what is his debut in the championship and he couldn’t have secured a bigger scalp following Tom Lewis’s shock late withdrawal on the eve of the event.
Lockwood, a former boy cap who made his full England debut against Spain in May, felt that Raymond hadn’t played badly but that he had had a lot of golf lately.
“This is my first English Amateur so you could say I have an unbeaten record,” he said. “I’m delighted to have beaten Neil but a few things went my way and it was closer than 5 and 4 while he missed a couple of putts near the end.
“I’ve not been ripping it recently but I just want to make myself difficult to beat. I hope it’s going to be a long week so the less holes I play the better.”
After both halved the first hole in bogeys, Lockwood won three holes in four from the third, two with birdies.
A Lockwood bogey at ten cut his lead but when he holed from eight feet on the 12th and Raymond missed from six the 19 year old was 3-up again.
Raymond then three-putted 13 and the match ended at the 14th when Lockwood holed from 15 feet for par and Raymond found another bogey.
Darren Wright, Raymond’s county and England team-mate also made an early exit, going down 3 and 2 to Shropshire and Herefordshire’s Ashley Chesters.
Chesters was in good form on the front nine, being three under par and 4-up at the turn. Wright won the next three holes to get back to 1-down but Chesters took the 14th and 15th for a fine victory.
Last year’s runner-up Warren Harmston is looking to go one better this time and made a good start with a 2 and 1 win over Matt Hill from nearby Leighton Buzzard.
“It wasn’t pretty,” said the Wentworth man. “I got 3-up through eight but I bogeyed 13 and he birdied 14 to cut my lead to one. But I took the 16th with a concession and managed to hang on. I didn’t hit it great but you need a bit of luck in 18 holes.”
So how does Harmston rate his chances this time? “This is a totally different course to last year at Little Aston. It’s longer and more demanding,” he added.
Harmston’s victory sets up an all-Wentworth clash in round two after England cap Steven Brown got the better of Frilford Heath’s Ashley Walton, also by 2 and 1.
“There’s life in the old dog yet,” declared Mark Wharton, after his 3 and 2 victory over Elliot Groves from Hampshire.
At 48, Wharton is the oldest man in the field but has the experience to go all the way. He won the first three holes and despite losing that lead by the turn, rebuilt it by taking three holes in-a-row from the 12th and held that to go through.
John Kemp, probably the next eldest at 43, and one of three Woburn members in the field, set up a second round tie another England international in Stiggy Hodgson.
Kemp beat Kent’s Jerome Titlow 2 and 1, while Hodgson came out on top 4 and 3 over Yorkshire’s Jamie Harrison.
Sam Whitehead, also from Woburn, was staring defeat in the face when he trailed boy cap Greg Payne by one hole on the 18th tee. But Payne three-putted to send the match into extra holes and he repeated it on the 19th to see Whitehead through.
Dave Coupland from Lincolnshire ran up the biggest win of the day with a 7 and 5 victory over Kent’s Darren Timms. Coupland eased in front with a chip-in eagle-three at the second and he also won the next.
Unfortunately, Timms was distinctly off form and Coupland won five successive holes from the sixth and although the Kent man pulled one back at the 12th, another error at the 13th brought a concession and a shake of hands.
The all-Geordie battle between Philip Ridden of City of Newcastle and Northumberland’s Kris Gray whose clubs are just a quarter of a mile apart, went the way of the former by 3 and 2.
England international Jack Senior needed 20 holes to shake off Darren Renwick and now meets the United States-based Charlie Bull, who put out Ben Loughrey by 1 hole.
TO ACCESS THE ENGLISH GOLF UNION RESULTS AND LIVE SCORING SERVICE
CLICK HERE
Labels: Amateur Men
posted by Colin |
See story on its own page | Thursday, July 28, 2011
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