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English boys’ international Josh Hill set a new standard last week by winning the MENA Tour’s Al Ain Open in Abu Dhabi at the age of 15 years, six months and 26 days.
The Dubai-based teenager carded a closing 8-under-par 62 to beat compatriot Harry Ellis by two strokes on 17-under 193 and in the process become the youngest player ever to win a men’s tournament offering Official World Golf Ranking points.
The previous record was held by Japan’s Ryo Ishikawa, who was 15 years and eight months old when he lifted the trophy at the Munsingwear Open KSB Cup in May 2007.
Hill started the final round at the Al Ain Equestrian, Shooting & Golf Club two strokes behind Ellis but rammed home a 12-foot birdie putt on the first and never looked back after that. He went on to fire a further seven birdies over his next 13 holes before concluding his round with four pars to finish two strokes ahead of Ellis and four in front of US professional Ben Schlottman and English amateur Curtis Knipes.
“I really don’t know what to say right now,” admitted Hill, a member of the English team which won this year’s Boys’ Home Internationals at Ashburnham. “I’m shocked. If you had told me during the summer that I would be winning a MENA Tour event against the professionals, I would have laughed at the notion. I guess hard work pays.
“I was struggling in the summer and then something changed in the last MENA Tour event at Yas Links. That top-10 finish gave me a lot of confidence and I knew it in my heart that I would do well at Al Ain because I have such a good history here. I just love this track.
“I’m actually a little disappointed with my finish because I missed so many opportunities coming in. I honestly could have broken 60 today. I knew I needed a good start and, after I got it, I kept hitting one good shot after another.”
Ellis, the 2016 Amateur Championship winner, was magnanimous in defeat after a closing with a 67 that included his only bogey of the week.
“I finally made one mistake on this course on the second hole but then played solid golf,” said the 24-year-old from Southampton. “But all credit to Josh. He played an unbelievable round today. It was doable in the conditions we had and he did it.”
Hill’s win comes a month after his fellow English international Robin Williams won the Jordan to Jordan 2 event at Ayla Golf Club and helps him climb into second place on the MENA Tour’s Amateur Order of Merit just behind Knipes. Williams currently holds third place with another Englishman, Jack Floydd, fourth. Knipes, Hill, Williams and Floydd now move on to this week’s Ras Al Khaimah Open at the Tower Links Golf Club in the UAE.
Ben Jones, who headed this year’s England Golf Men’s Order of Merit, is among the other starters.
The Metropolitan Golf Association produced a storming finish to overhaul the Golfing Union of Ireland and reclaim the biennial Gov. Hugh L. Carey Challenge Cup at the Arcola Country Club in New Jersey.
The Irish team comprising Robert Brazill, Rowan Lester, Peter O’Keeffe, Conor Purcell, Caolan Rafferty and James Sugrue seemed favourites to successfully defend the title when they claimed a 4-2 lead after the foursomes and four-balls but the MGA team rallied to win the singles, 4½-1½, to complete a 6½-5½ turnaround victory.
The Irish team’s prospects began to turn when Purcell was thrashed by Brad Tilley, 8 and 7, in the top singles. Rafferty then went down, 6 and 4, to Thomas La Morte before the third Irish Walker Cup player and reigning Amateur champion Sugrue lost by two holes to James Nicholas.
The Irish rallied briefly when O’Keeffe beat Darin Goldstein, 2 and 1, and Brazill halved with Joe Saladino before host club member Trevor Randolph completed the home team’s comeback with a one-hole victory over Lester.
“They put out their three Walker Cup players first but, once we got through the first two of those three, we knew the game was on,” said MGA president Tod Pike, who captained the home team.
“Coming up 18, watching the final match, someone said something to me about it coming down to the short games of Trevor versus his opponent. I said I wouldn’t want it in anyone else’s hands. We put Trevor out last for a reason and he really came through in the clutch and showed what he’s made of.”
“These international competitions mean so much to me personally,” said 46-year-old Randolph, who was making his sixth appearance for the MGA in international competitions. “To be involved with getting the Carey Cup to come to Arcola and then to have it end this way is certainly something really special to me and is something I will never forget.”
Brazill was Ireland’s most successful player over the two days of competition. He teamed up with Lester to claim a one-hole win in the four-balls and then won his foursomes match, 3 and 2, with the same partner before making it two and a half points out of three with his halve in the singles.
The MGA victory takes the all-time tournament record to 8-5-2 in favour of the Irish, who won at Metedeconk National in 2015 and then retained the trophy with a 6-6 tie at Galway Bay two years ago.
City of Newcastle became the first English club to lift the trophy for almost 30 years when they came from behind to win the European Men’s Club Trophy at the Golf du Médoc Resort in southwest France.
The English champions started the final round six shots behind German representatives Stuttgarter after carding level-par 142 on the opening day but leapfrogged the leaders with a 6-under total of 136 in the second round to finish the event six strokes ahead of Iceland’s GKG Golf on 6-under 278.
Stuttgarter stuttered to a 5-over total of 147 on the second day and dropped back into third place. They finished tied with defending champions Racing Club de France La Boulie on 1-under 283 but were awarded the bronze medal because their non-counting scores were lower than those posted by the French team.
Earlier the first round was abandoned after torrential rain flooded the course and prompted organisers to reduce the event to 36 holes rather than the customary 54.
City of Newcastle’s victory proved to be a real team effort with both Alex Dixon and Andrew Minnikin shooting level-par rounds of 71 on the opening day, and Philip Ridden and Dixon providing the two counting scores out of three in the second round with a 70 and a 66, respectively.
That 66 lifted Dixon into second place in the concurrent individual event, just one stroke behind RCF La Boulie’s Raphaël le Bot. The Frenchman fired a 64 on the opening day and followed that up with a 72 to edge his English rival on 6-under 136.
Third place was shared by Rosendaelsche’s Kiet van der Weele and Golf de Terre Blanche’s Tom Santa on 2-under 140.
City of Newcastle’s performance makes them the first English team to claim the title since Ealing won back to back in 1989 and 1990. The new champions reached the European final by beating Chelmsford at last month’s English Men’s Champion tournament at Romford in Essex.
In their previous appearance in the European Men’s Club Trophy, City of Newcastle finished third behind RCF La Boulie and Irish representatives Galway at the same venue in 2017. This year Galway, represented by Ronan Mullarney, Joe Lyons and Liam Nolan, were tied 10th while Ian Flower, Rhys Carhart and Luke Thomas from Mountain Ash Golf Club in Wales were tied 17th. Scotland did not field a team.
Former double Irish junior champion Mark Power claimed the best finish of his fledgling collegiate career when he tied for third place in the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate in Alpharetta, Georgia.
The 19-year-old Wake Forest freshman from Kilkenny carded rounds of 68, 75 and 68 to finish tied third with Southern California’s Kaito Onishi two strokes behind medallists Eddy Lai from UCLA and William Paysse from Texas A&M.
France’s Adrien Pendariès posted rounds of 69, 71 and 74 to finish tied for seventh place and help his Duke claim the team title while English Walker Cup player Alex Fitzpatrick (Wake Forest) was one shot further back after recovering from an opening 76 to card a 70 and a 69 and finish tied ninth on 1-under 215.
Power was not the only Irish player to have a near miss last week on the US collegiate circuit because Louisville sophomore Mairéad Martin fired four birdies on her closing nine holes to post a 69 and finish second behind Sera Tadokoro (University of Kansas) in the Cardinal Cup over her college’s home course in Simpsonville, Kentucky.
Martin’s fine performance helped a Louisville team also including the Czech Republic’s Hana Ryškova, France’s Margot Bechadergue and Germany’s Linda Trockel claim an eight-stroke victory in the team competition.
“It was a really great weekend,” said Martin, the 2017 Irish Girls’ Close champion who turns 20 next week. “I felt really comfortable out there and enjoyed it a lot. I felt really proud of my performance and the team’s performance as well.”
Ryškova, the reigning Slovak Amateur champion from Frydek-Místek, closed with a 73 to finish in a share of third place on 213.
Sandy Scott’s hopes of claiming a second individual title were dashed when he dropped down the leaderboard during the final round of the Tavistock Collegiate Invitational at the Isleworth Country Club in Florida.
The Scottish Walker Cup player, who is in his fourth year at Texas Tech, was tied second after opening rounds of 72 and 66 but fell back into a share of fifth place, six shots behind winner Johnny Tavale (Central Florida), after closing with a 72.
England’s Angus Flanagan (Minnesota) closed with a 69 to finish tied-seventh in a group also including France’s Clément Charmasson (Central Florida).
It proved to be a much better day for Scott’s Texas Tech colleague Markus Braadlie, who closed with a 69 and then beat Max Theodorakis (Campbell) in a play-off to win the concurrent Little Rock First Tee Classic at the Chenal Country Club in Arkansas. It was the Norwegian’s first victory on the collegiate circuit.
Scottish amateur international Kieran Cantley topped the field at the Pro Golf Tour Qualifying School at Paderborner Land Golf Club in Germany.
The 22-year-old from Liberton, who won this year’s Leven Gold Medal and was fourth at the Welsh Stroke Play, posted rounds of 68 and 70 to finish two shots ahead of German amateur Jakob van de Flierdt on 6-under 138.
It proved to be a successful event for the amateurs because France’s Victor Joffray carded a 70, and a 71 to finish third and Finland’s Niklas Regner shot a 67 and a 75 to finish tied fourth in a group that also included Cantley’s fellow countryman Euan Walker.
Walker, a 24-year-old from Kilmarnock Barassie, recently turned professional after a successful season during which he won the African Amateur Championship and finished second in both the Amateur Championship and the European Amateur Championship. He made his pro debut at the KLM Open in the Netherlands where he finished tied 40th and won €11,600.
E-MAIL COLIN