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England’s Arron Edwards-Hill shot a sparkling closing round of 64 to overhaul South Africa’s Dylan Melville and win the 23rd Faldo Series Grand Final at the Al Ain Equestrian, Shooting & Golf Club in the United Arab Emirates.
The Essex player started the final round four shots adrift of Melville after two opening rounds of 68 but fired seven birdies and a solitary bogey to leapfrog his opponent and claim a two-shot victory on 10-under-par 200.
Melville looked in control of the competition after adding a 67 to his opening round of 65 but missed the chance to lift the trophy after a closing 70.
The South African’s 8-under-par total of 202 was enough for him to finish two shots ahead of fast-finishing Irishman Max Kennedy, who matched Edwards-Hill’s 64 to climb into third on 205, three shots ahead of England’s Charlie Salter, Chinese Taipei’s Chang Hsin Chiao and Adam Brady from Australia. Kennedy also claimed a three-shot victory ahead of Brady in the Boys’ Under-18 event.
Melville’s consolation was that his 202 was enough to ensure a nine-shot victory ahead of India’s Arjun Gupta in the Boys’ Under-16 category. Gupta had opened with 74 but then shot 67 and 70 to finish a shot ahead of England’s Rohan Miah.
The Girls' Under-21 event was dominated by players from Chinese Taipei, with Faldo Series Asia champion Chang closing with a 69 to pip compatriot Ling-Jie Chen by one shot on 2-under 208. There was another English success in the Girls’ Under-16 event, in which Louise Burke from Dorset closed with a superb 4-under 66 to beat Japan’s Sakura Kawakami by a single shot on 7-over 217.
The Al Ain course has proved to be a happy hunting ground for English players recently. Josh Hill, 15, won a MENA Tour event there last month to become the youngest winner of a ranking men’s professional event.
English international Ben Schmidt has set his sights on becoming the world’s No. 1 amateur after claiming his fifth victory of the season at the Justin Rose Telegraph Junior Championship at Quinto do Lago in Portugal.
The 17-year-old from Barnsley has said he has no plans to go to college in the United States but instead will stay at home and try to build on a superb season in which he has won the Brabazon Trophy, the Carris Trophy, the Sir Henry Cooper Junior Masters, the Yorkshire Boys’ Championship and now the prestigious Telegraph Junior event.
Schmidt claimed a three-shot lead with an opening 68. He extended that advantage to nine after carding a second-round 69 watched by tournament host Justin Rose and finally won by a record 15 shots from Ireland’s Aaron Marshall and 2017 champion Max Hopkins after duplicating that 69 the following day.
“I did feel very much in control and I can’t tell you what this means to me,” Schmidt said. “To win this title at any stage would be a huge honour but to do so in the year when Justin Rose has first put his name to it and sponsored the championship with his own money makes it extra special.
“It has been a fantastic year for me, with the Brabazon Trophy and Carris Trophy on the mantelpiece and now this as well. It gives me so much confidence going forwards.”
One man who was clearly impressed by Schmidt was Rose.
“I was told Ben was one to watch and he definitely is,” said the reigning Olympic champion. “I can see why he is ranked in the top 10 in the amateur rankings. He is very, very good. He doesn’t seem to be a character to get ruffled.”
The concurrent girls’ competition was a much closer affair with England’s Mimi Rhodes, Scotland’s Carmen Griffiths and Darcy Harry from Wales all tied for the lead with three holes to go before 17-year-old Rhodes finished birdie-birdie-eagle to post a closing 71 and finish four shots ahead of Harry and seven clear of Griffiths. Rhodes’ younger sister, 15-year-old Patience, closed with 81 to drop down to fifth place.
“Honestly, when I made that 12-footer on the 16th, I didn’t know I’d moved ahead but when my approach on the 17th clattered the pin leaving me the shortest of tap-ins I realised it was mine to lose,” said Rhodes, who is committed to Wake Forest. “The eagle on the last was the icing (on the cake) really and it was lovely to walk up to that 5-footer knowing I’d lived up to my goal. It’s my biggest title to date.”
Rhodes went on to dedicate her victory to her grandmother, Susan.
“Grandma is suffering from cancer and has been through a bad time, but she was so proud of Patience and I qualifying for these finals,” she said. “I wanted so much to do it for her and when I finished and hugged my sister, I knew I would cry. Grandma said she knew I would win, but even she was surprised that I closed my round like that.”
Schmidt’s next tilt at moving up the rankings comes next month when he travels to Florida to compete in the South Beach International Amateur. At the start of next year he will travel to Australia, South Africa and Spain to gain more international experience before the new domestic season gets underway.
Lisa Maguire has announced she has retired from professional golf in order to start a new job at the burgeoning Dublin-based management company Modest! Golf.
The decision comes 17 months on from Maguire and twin sister Leona turning professional after graduating from Duke University in North Carolina, and after Lisa’s lengthy spell in the doldrums during which she failed to replicate the sort of form which won her 16 major titles as an amateur and earned her berths in both the Curtis Cup and the Junior Solheim Cup.
Maguire clearly believed the battle with her game had gone on long enough and so took the brave decision to try something else.
“Golf is an incredibly difficult game. One day you’re on top of the world and the next you’re at the bottom looking up,” the 24-year-old from Cavan told Irish Golfer magazine. “I never wanted to get to the point where I resented the game. Golf has been very good for me over the last number of years and it’s been a huge part of my life. I think this is just another part of that.
“It’s not exactly on the golf course, per se, but it’s nice to be outside the ropes and still be involved in the golf industry. It’s an opportunity to give back to a game that has been so good to me over the years and I’m really excited to see what the future holds.”
Iceland’s Bjarki Pétursson was the only amateur to earn a place in the final stage of this year’s European Tour Q-School at Lumine Golf Club in northeast Spain.
The Kent State University graduate came through the first-stage qualifier at Fleesensee in Germany and then reached Lumine by qualifying in a tie for eighth place at the weather-interrupted second-stage event at Bonmont.
Former Australian amateur David Micheluzzi finished tied fifth at the Bonmont qualifier after turning pro last month. Micheluzzi was one of several recent converts to the paid ranks in the field but his compatriot Blake Collyer, Scotland’s Ryan Lumsden and New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier will have to find somewhere else to ply their trade after failing to earn a qualification spot. Amateurs Ben Jones, David Hague, Jannik de Bruyn and Laurie Owen also will have to assess their options after failing to progress at the same venue.
High winds also resulted in the second-stage event at Alenda going to an extra day but that did not stop former English amateur international Ben Hutchinson from clinching one of the 20 available spots after electing to turn pro in September. David Langley also turned pro around the same time but will have to target the mini-tours after missing out at the same venue alongside amateurs Ronan Mullarney, Joe MacIlwraith, Brandon Dietzel and Sam Broadhurst.
The other two second-stage qualifiers at Desert Springs and Las Colinas finished on schedule, with Australia’s Blake Windred claiming medallist honours at the former and South Africa’s Wilco Nienaber and Thomas Rosenmüller finishing second and tied sixth, respectively, at the latter. All three turned pro ahead of Q-School.
Andreas Hillersborg, Bailey Gill, Jake Burnage, Yannik Emmert, Kyle Michel, Robin Williams, Haider Hussain, Lukas Lipold, Marc Hammer, Joshua McMahon, Jeong weon Ko, Rúnar Arnórsson and Alex Hietala were among those who failed to qualify at those two events.
The Q-School’s final stage started at Lumine last Friday and is scheduled to be completed Wednesday, when the top 25 finishers and those tied for 25th place will earn a European Tour card for the 2020 season.
LEADERBOARD
Albane Valenzuela announced she has turned professional after earning an LPGA Tour card at the tour’s recent Q-Series in North Carolina.
The Swiss world No. 2 will cease to play golf for Stanford with immediate effect but plans to remain at the university as a student and complete her degree in political science in the spring.
“I’m excited to announce my decision to turn professional and accept my LPGA status for the 2020 season,” she said. “My decision to leave the Stanford golf team has been one of the most difficult I have had to make in my career. Stanford has been the greatest gift I have ever received as it has taught me lessons that go beyond the classroom and pitch.
“I have learned new definitions of what teamwork, friendship and dedication look like based on my experience as a part of this programme – invaluable lessons that have prepared me to take the next step in my journey.”
Valenzuela nailed down a place on the LPGA Tour after finishing tied sixth at the Q-Series at Pinehurst. She leaves the amateur game at the end of an excellent 2019 season during which she shared first place with Ireland’s Olivia Mehaffey at the Pac-12 Championship and finished runner-up to Australia’s Gabriela Ruffles in the US Women’s Amateur. She also was a member of the victorious Continent of Europe team in the Vagliano Trophy at Royal St George’s.
English amateur Oliver Farrell’s hopes of earning a place on the Korn Ferry Tour in the States were dashed after he failed to qualify at one of the tour’s second-stage qualifiers at Brooksville, Florida.
Farrell, who recently completed his career at Marquette University in Milwaukee, carded rounds of 70, 70, 74 and 74 to miss out by 10 shots on level-par 288. Akshay Bhatia, the 17-year-old 2019 US Walker Cup player, fell six shots short of the qualification mark at the same venue.
One English player to make it through to the Q-School final, to be played at Orange County National in Winter Garden, Florida, from 12-15 December, was English Walker Cup player Harry Hall, who earned his spot at an earlier second-stage event in McKinney, Texas. He turned pro after representing GB&I in its defeat to the US at Hoylake.
Three amateurs, Donnie Trosper, Chandler Eaton and Andy Spencer, all of whom all Americans, made it through to the final as did celebrated former amateurs Brandon Wu, Jordan Niebrugge and Braden Thornberry.
Norman Xiong and German twins Jeremy and Yannik Paul were among the others who failed to progress.
Frenchman David Ravetto signed off his transatlantic trip to South America in some style when he won the Argentina Amateur Stroke Play Championship at Estancias Golf Club in Pilar.
Just a few days after claiming a share of third place at the Juan Carlos Tailhade Cup, Ravetto, a 22-year-old graduate of Texas Christian University, carded rounds of 69, 69, 70 and 66 to claim a three-shot victory ahead of Argentinian Mariano Silvestri on 14-under 274.
Welshman Jake Hapgood fired two closing rounds of 70 to finish eighth on 3-under 285 while Germany’s Lukas Buller was ninth on 286 and Ravetto’s compatriot Charles Larcelet tied 12th, two shots further back.
Ravetto’s victory completed a great few days for France, with Adrien Pendariès, Julien Sale, Pauline Roussin-Bouchard and Candice Mahé combining to claim the mixed title at the Spirit International Amateur in Texas.
The gold medal that Duke junior Pendariès won there will give him bragging rights on his father, former European Tour player Marc Pendariès, who captained the French team at the Spirit in 2011.
“My dad’s team finished fourth eight years ago, so I get to give him a hard time about it,” Adrien said.
Russia’s Nataliya Guseva ended a superb 2019 season on a high note when she won the Spanish Women’s International Stroke Play Championship at Barceló Montecastillo Golf.
The 16-year-old had already won this year’s Austrian and Turkish International Championships ahead of arriving in Jerez and she proceeded to card rounds of 74, 68 and 74 to add another international title to that haul.
It also proved to be a good event for English international Bel Wardle, who shot 74, 73 and 73 to finish second, four shots behind the Russian on 4-over 220. Scotland’s Alison Muirhead and Spaniards Carolina López-Chacarra, Natalia Herrera Anglada and Julia López Ramirez shared third on 222.
E-MAIL COLIN