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Spain’s José Luis Ballester Barrio clinched the biggest title of his young career when he beat Germany’s Jannik de Bruyn in the final of the Spanish International Men’s Amateur Championship at RGC Sevilla.
The Spaniard began the event by carding rounds of 70 and 69 to top the field in the stroke-play qualifier, and he went on to rattle off victories against Switzerland’s Robert Foley, Spaniards Joseba Torres Olazábal and Álvaro Mueller-Baumgart Lucena, and England’s James Cooper before lifting the trophy with a 3-and-1 victory against de Bruyn in the final.
German national champion de Bruyn had beaten another Englishman, Maxwell Martin, in the semi-finals but never was ahead against Ballester Barrio, who was 4 up at lunch and still the same margin ahead on the 28th. De Bruyn won the 29th, the 31st and the 32nd before Ballester Barrio stopped the rot by winning both the 34th and 35th holes.
Ballester became the first Spaniard to win his country’s international title since Daniel Berná in 2014 and added his name to an illustrious list of past champions which also includes Sergio García, Danny Willett, Joost Luiten, Maarten Lafeber and Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño.
His performance ended a run of near misses in international events, which included runner-up finishes in the 2018 Boys’ Amateur Championship, the 2019 European Young Masters and this year’s Junior Orange Bowl International, and helped a Spanish team also featuring Mueller-Baumgart Lucena win the Nations Cup held in conjunction with the stroke-play qualifier.
Portugal’s Daniel Da Costa Rodrigues, Pedro Lencart and Pedro Cruz Silva were second in the team event with the bronze medal going to England’s Callum Farr, Tom Plumb and Charlie Strickland.
Hopes of a Spanish double were dashed when France’s Lilas Pinthier beat Cayetana Fernández García-Poggio in the final of the Spanish International Women’s Amateur Championship at RGC Tenerife.
The 14-year-old Fernández García-Poggio looked to be in control when she won the 16th to go 2 up but Pinthier won both the 17th and 18th before succeeding her compatriot Candice Mahé as champion after finally ending the challenge of her younger opponent on the 22nd hole.
The day before, Pinthier also was taken into extra time before winning her semi-final against Spain’s Carolina López-Chacarra on the 19th hole. Fernández García-Poggio beat Italian world No. 3 Alessia Nobilio by 2 and 1 in their quarter-final and then dispatched Sweden’s Louise Rydqvist, 4 and 3, before losing to Ping Junior Solheim Cup player Pinthier the following day.
The Nations Cup was won by a Swedish trio comprising Rydqvist, Meja Örtengren and Ester Fägersten. They beat Spain’s López-Chacarra, Carla Tejedo and Marta García by two strokes with the Italian team led by Nobilio and also including Virginia Elena Carta and Carolina Melgrati a further 10 shots behind in third place.
R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers said he has not ruled out professionals captaining the Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup team at some stage in the future.
Traditionally, captains have been past Walker Cup players who have retained their amateur status, but with so few of them left to choose from, the authorities have contemplated having a rethink.
“Yes, we have discussed the issue,” Slumbers said following last week’s R&A annual media roundtable gathering in St Andrews. “We still have a few amateurs out there to be considered, but I do not believe there is anything intellectually wrong with having a professional fulfil the role.
“The Walker Cup has huge value in terms of relationships, but it is also about wanting to win it and there is no doubt the professionals would bring a lot to the table in that regard.
Those words raise the intriguing prospect of past Ryder Cup captains such as Colin Montgomerie, Pádraig Harrington and Paul McGinley returning to their roots to captain the GB&I Walker Cup team. All three played on at least one Walker Cup team, and their presence not only would provide huge experience but also would greatly enhance the profile of the biennial transatlantic contest.
“I would not rule that out,” Slumbers said. “Matthew Fitzpatrick came to watch his brother, Alex, play in last year’s Walker Cup at Hoylake. To show how classy the guy is, I said, ‘Matthew, if you want a ticket to get inside the ropes, you just have to ask,’ but he said straight away, ‘No, I’m fine where I am.’
“He also said he’d like to help some of our future Walker Cup teams, and that sort of offer is hard to turn down.”
David Hague has become the latest former English amateur international to secure a victory on the burgeoning MENA Tour in the Middle East.
The 24-year-old Yorkshireman finished runner-up at the recent Newgiza Open in Cairo, and he went one better at last week’s Royal Golf Club Bahrain Open, where he carded rounds of 66, 70 and 71 to complete a one-shot victory ahead of France’s Victor Rui.
The victory, in what was Hague’s fourth start as a professional, extends a sequence in which his former English amateur teammates David Langley and Bailey Gill also won on the MENA Tour and moves him into second place behind Langley on the tour’s Order of Merit with earnings of just more than $24,000.
Hague started the final round with a one-shot lead but dropped two shots on the seventh before bouncing back, adding three birdies on his back nine.
“This is amazing,” said Hague, who played this year’s MENA Tour Q-School as an amateur before electing to join the paid ranks. “I had been thinking about turning pro for over a year but always had my doubts about it. I felt I was on a good run when I played the MENA Tour Qualifying School so thought it was a good time to make the decision. This win definitely validates it.”
Hague was not the only recent amateur international to post a top-10 finish in Bahrain. England’s Ben Hutchinson closed with a 67 to climb into a share of third place in a group that also included Scotland’s Calum Fyfe and Ryan Lumsden, while another Scot, Craig Ross, and Ireland’s Paul McBride were two strokes further behind in a share of seventh place.
The leading amateur was Saudi international Saud Al Sharif. He was in contention after carding a second-round 66 but fell away with a closing 81 to finish in a tie for 18th place alongside Order of Merit leader Langley.
“It was a tough day on the golf course but this is my first time in a situation like this and I’m sure I have learned a lot on how to handle things in the future,” said the 19-year-old. “The experience will make me a better player.”
The Kendleshire’s Haider Hussain was the leading English player in the Cape Province Open at George Golf Club in South Africa.
He put together rounds of 69, 69, 72 and 68 to finish in a share of fourth place behind runaway winner Christo Lamprecht Jnr on 10-under-par 278. Hussain finished one stroke ahead of Ogbourne Down’s Jake Bolton, who was sixth on 279, and a further three shots ahead of Sam Bairstow from Hallowes. Hussain’s clubmate Joe Harvey tied for 10th on 284, and Lansdown’s Joe Long finished 12th on 285.
Hussain has been in fine form during his stint in South Africa, which started with an eighth-place finish at the African Amateur Stroke Play and a share of seventh place at the South African Amateur Stroke Play. He also reached the last 16 in the South African Amateur Championship.
It also has been a successful tour for Long, who was tied fourth at the African Amateur, tied seventh with Hussain at the South African Amateur Stroke Play and reached the semi-final of the South African Amateur, where he lost to eventual winner Casey Jarvis.
Jarvis, 16, won both the South African stroke-play and match-play titles but settled for a share of 14th place at George, a distant 27 strokes behind Lamprecht, the South Cape player who became the youngest winner of the South African Amateur in 2017 at the age of 16 years, 25 days. He set another record the following year as the first overseas winner of the East of Ireland Championship.
Lamprecht was one stroke behind reigning Junior Open champion Martin Vorster after opening rounds of 66 and 68 before storming to a nine-stroke lead after carding a 12-under-par 60 that included 10 birdies and an eagle in the third round. He maintained that margin when both he and Vorster closed with rounds of 68.
Austria’s Emma Spitz secured the first individual title of her collegiate career when she shared first place with Northwestern’s Kelly Sim at the Bruin Wave Invitational at the San Luis Obispo Country Club in California.
The 2018 R&A Girls Amateur champion did it in some style when she drained a 7-foot birdie putt on her final hole to post a 69 and tie Sim on 5-under 211.
Her previous best collegiate finish had come two weeks before at the Northrup Grumman Regional Challenge, where she was tied for seventh.
“I don’t think I was necessarily much better than last week,” Spitz said. “It was more my mental game that definitely much improved.”
Spitz was one of three European UCLA freshman who recorded top-10 finishes in the Bruin Wave event.
Italy’s Emilie Paltrinieri also claimed the best finish of her fledgling collegiate career after duplicating Spitz’s closing 69 to finish third on 214, and it was the same for reigning Irish Close champion Annabel Wilson, who was seventh on 220.
In South Carolina, England’s Dan Bradbury collected the third individual collegiate title of his career in the Battle at Hilton Head, where the Lincoln Memorial University junior carded rounds of 64, 69 and 70 to secure an impressive eight-shot victory on 13-under 203.
That total represented a career low for Bradbury and was just two strokes shy of LMU’s aggregate record currently held by his former teammate, England’s Sam Broadhurst. Bradbury’s Welsh colleague Luke Harries finished tied fourth, and both their performances helped LMU claim a massive 29-strokes victory in the team event.
Ireland’s John Murphy claimed his second individual title in University of Louisville colours at the Dorado Beach Collegiate in Puerto Rico, where he fired a 65 to share first place with Ben Sigel (Kansas) before the last two rounds were cancelled because of heavy rain.
Germany’s Matthias Schmid and the Czech Republic’s Jirí Zuska were also in fine form as Louisville completed seven-stroke victory in the team event. The former carded a 67 to secure a share of third place while the latter posted a 68 to finish in the large group in fifth place.
Amateur champion James Sugrue has confirmed he plans to turn professional but not until he believes he is up to the task.
“Whenever I think I’m ready, really,” the Irishman said ahead of making his debut in a regular European Tour at last week’s Oman Open, where he missed the cut after carding rounds of 73 and 77. Last summer Sugrue narrowly missed the cut in the Open at Royal Portrush with rounds of 71 and 73 while playing alongside Darren Clarke.
“I obviously don’t have much experience in the pro game, but I can imagine it’s not a great place to be if you’re playing bad. Starting off, playing bad could really turn you off before you’ve even started.”
Sugrue’s appearance in Oman was part of his preparations before crossing the Atlantic to compete in the Masters. Previously, he notched sixth-place finishes at both the African Amateur Stroke Play and the South African Stroke Play. Sugrue also will play against US Amateur champion Andy Ogletree in the annual Georgia Cup at the Golf Club of Georgia before heading to Augusta to tee up in the first major of the year.
Ireland’s Julie McCarthy has become the latest European golfer to be handed an invitation to compete in next month’s Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
The 21-year-old former Irish and Scottish girls’ champion from Dublin has risen to 24th in the women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking following a series of impressive performances while representing Auburn University on the US collegiate circuit.
McCarthy will follow in the footsteps of compatriot Olivia Mehaffey, who finished in a share of 23rd place at last year’s inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur but has declined an invitation this year in order to play in the concurrent ANA Inspiration, the first LPGA major of the year.
Stephanie Kyriacou took just 48 hours to decide to turn professional in the aftermath of her stunning eight-stroke victory in the Ladies European Tour’s Geoff King Motors Australian Ladies Classic at the Bonville Golf Resort.
With a two-year LET exemption under her belt, it was the obvious step to take.
“It’s been very, very crazy,” said the 19-year-old from Sydney ahead of her pro debut in last week’s Women’s New South Wales Open, where she missed the cut with rounds of 75 and 76. “I’ve had so many messages and missed calls. Everything has happened so quickly.”
It wasn’t a hard decision to make.
“I did weigh up all the options, but I was hoping to turn pro at the end of the year anyway and this has opened a few more doors and moved the goalposts a bit,” she said.
E-MAIL COLIN