At first glance, the victories of Ben Brown and Ellen Yates in the respective men’s and women’s divisions of the English Amateur Championship at Ferndown Golf Club were identical – both sealed triumph at the 20th hole of their finals – but the pair found very different paths to their respective playoffs.
Yates, ranked 1,997th in the world and from West Hill Golf Club in Surrey, was 2-down to opponent Rebecca Earl with four holes to play before digging deep to win Nos. 15 and 18. A par at the short second hole secured the title, the University of Houston incoming freshman’s first victory in WAGR-counting events.
It was a dramatic conclusion to a week in which Yates twice nearly made a hole-in-one in the second round of match play and defeated last year’s runner-up, Davina Xanh, in the semifinal.
Brown, who won the Fairhaven Trophy and Yorkshire Match Play Championship last year, is part of the boom in Yorkshire golf fueled by the success of Sheffield pair Danny Willett and Matt Fitzpatrick.
He shared the lead in the stroke-play qualifier, carding a 6-under-par 65 at Ferndown to equal Rory McDonald-O’Brien’s score at the same course. However, the pair never had the opportunity to play the second course – Broadstone Golf Club – because the second round of both championships were abandoned after Storm Antoni caused extensive flooding.
In his final against Tyler Weaver – and in contrast to Yates – Brown was 2-up with four holes to play but lost 15 and 17. The Romanby Golf Club member rebounded in some style, making a birdie-2 at the 20th hole to complete a victory that will improve a world ranking of 1,291 at the start of the week.
RESULTS
Cameron Adam emulated his mentor and fellow left-hander Robert MacIntyre in winning the Scottish Amateur Championship with a 5-and-3 victory in the final over Gregor Tait.
It was a particularly dominant performance from the Northwestern University junior, who carded course-record 63s at both Royal Dornoch and Tain in stroke play qualifying before negotiating all six of his match-play triumphs at the former.
Adam opened the week ranked 689th in the world, but the victory was a third top 10 in a row, following eighth place at the East of Scotland Open and sixth in the Dutch International Junior Open.
It was a tough blow for Tait because he completed the unwanted double of finishing second in successive years. He was beaten by Oliver Mukherjee at Glasgow Gailes 12 months ago.
At the La Manga resort in Spain, Asia-Pacific retained the Bonallack Trophy for the continent’s fourth victory in the match’s 11th edition. The team was fueled by top-scoring Australian Jack Buchanan, who won four of his five matches throughout the week.
The match had been tied at five points apiece after the first day before the visitors took control, winning 4½ points in the five Friday morning foursomes and adding three wins in the afternoon four-balls.
Trailing by five points heading into the 12 singles, Europe faced a tough task. Sweden’s Albert Hansson landed his fourth point of the week to top the scoring for the hosts, one of a quartet of early wins, but Asia-Pacific stood firm to complete a 17-15 victory.
It was a different story in the women’s Patsy Hankins Trophy, played at the same venue, where Europe claimed its first win in the third edition of the match.
Meja Örtengren of Sweden and Rocio Tejedo from Spain led the way with victories in the first two singles out, to complete personal hauls for the week of 4½ and four points, respectively.
The Europeans had suffered a heavy 23½-8½ defeat in the previous match, five years ago in Qatar, but took control in Spain when winning the first day’s afternoon session of fourballs, 4-1, to grab a lead they never conceded.
Honourable mention in defeat goes to Australia’s Maddison Hinson-Tolchard, who was unbeaten and posted 4½ points.
MEN’S RESULTS / WOMEN’S RESULTS
Matt Cooper