Andy Sullivan’s English Championship win at Hanbury Manor was his first since the Portugal Masters in 2015, and moves him to the top of the UK Swing Order of Merit. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

ANDY Sullivan cruised to a commanding victory at the English Championship at Hanbury Manor.

The former Ryder Cup player claimed his fourth European Tour title and his first in nearly five years in the process after his win at the Portugal Masters in 2015.

The Walker Cup winner held the lead in the UK Swing’s third event from the second round – when he carded a course-record 62.

And the Nuneaton boy never relinquished his place at the summit.

A third round 64 handed the 34-year-old a five-stroke advantage heading into the final day at Hanbury Manor Marriott Hotel and Country Club, and he never let up on a frazzling final day as the thermometer headed to the high 80s.

An eagle three at the par five second hole quashed the early hopes of a determined chasing pack.

The latter included Spain’s two-time European Tour winner Adrian Otaegui, whose five-under front nine made him a leading contender for an upset.

Otaegui got to within two with six to play, but Sullivan picked up four shots down the stretch to seal the deal with a six-under par 65 and a 27-under total – winning by seven shots from the Spaniard.

Sullivan sheds a few tears after win

THE normally chirpy Sullivan was left sharing some tears after speaking to his family in a live video link after walking off the 18th

He said: “I’m proud of myself. I wasn’t quite stuck in the doldrums. But it just hasn’t quite happened for me since those three wins in 2015 – and it feels like a weight off my shoulders now… I think it told out there.

“I never really felt comfortable out on the golf course all day, I found it quite a battle the whole way around until I started dropping a couple of putts on the back nine and my lead started increasing.

“I was always on guard today, I knew Adrian was there breathing down my neck.

“But it’s nice to come down those last few holes and know the job was done.

“I got to the green at 12 and I saw him birdie that hole to get to within two so I knew that was going to be quite big.

“I holed it, and then had a great two-putt on the next and then two really good putts on 14 and 15 which were massive.”

Adrian Otaegui pushed Sullivan as hard as he could despite being six shots behind. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

Otaegui: Sully was at another level

OTAEGUI was looking for this third win on the Euorpean Tour – and his first since claiming the Belgian Knockout in 2018.

Adrian said: “I’m very happy with my round, very happy with my week overall.

“Obviously, congratulations to Andy, he’s played at just another level. The rounds he’s played this week were amazing.

“He played some very very good golf. But I’m very happy with my score, I had a very good start which was good.

“I was feeling very good. I was rolling the ball very well all week really and was feeling very confident.

“I holed some good putts for birdie today, saved a couple of pars as well. I had very good pace on the long putts as well. They were finishing quite close to the hole which is always quite good to tap it in. ”

The new champion, who won three times in 2015 – including twice in South Africa to earn a place in Darren Clarke’s Ryder Cup team at Hazeltine a year later – moved from 42nd to 15th in the Race to Dubai rankings.

It also moved him to the top of the UK Swing Order of Merit after three events.

The top 10 after the sixth and final tournament will share an additional £250,000 from the European Tour’s Golf for Good initiative, to donate to the charity of their choice.

The top 10 – not otherwise exempt after the fifth event – will also gain spots in the US Open at Winged Foot next month.

Wentworth’s Steven Brown could not convert his many birdie chances on Sunday. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

Brown beaten as the putts fail to drop at Ware course

SULLIVAN was paired with Wentworth’s Walker Cup team-mate Steven Brown, who finished on 17-under after seeing a number of putts brush the hole.

Brown, who played in the same Great Britain and Ireland team that beat the USA at Royal Aberdeen in 2011, as Sullivan, was looking for a second win, having claimed the Portugal Masters title in November.

That end-of-season win also saved his European Tour card.

Denmark’s Rasmus Højgaard was one shot further back in third in the English Championship, with young South African Wilco Nienaber on 18-under par, having got into the event as an alternative at the 11th hour.

Højgaard, who won a play-off in Mauritius in December, admitted a US Open debut was top of his priorties after securing his card as the third-youngest winner in European Tour history at just 18.

Rasmus said: “I think the last two days, my scoring has not been a low as I want it to be.

“But I’ve been fighting and grinding my way through the rounds and I’m happy to shoot a low one today.

“I’ve been consistent I guess. I’ve been having a good couple of weeks, happy with how my game is trending.

“Obviously that US Open spot is what I want right now and I have booked my ticket there now so I’m happy with that.”

•To see the final results from Hanbury Manor click here. And to see the current mini-Order of Merit list click here.

The post Sullivan glad to be back in winner’s circle at Hanbury Manor after five-year wait appeared first on Golf North.

AS Royal Liverpool prepares to host the 47th Walker Cup  between Great Britain and Ireland and the USA – as part of its celebration of 150 years of golf at Hoylake – ANDREW GRIFFIN spoke to the last Hampshire player to win a major domestic honour at the Merseyside course, where Tiger Woods and Rory McIlory claimed the Open Championship in 2006 and 2014 respectively.

Rowlands Castle’s Darren Wright who thinks the Americans may try and attack the Hoylake links in this weekend’s Walker Cup clash with Great Britain and Ireland.
Picture by ANDREW GRIFFIN / AMG PICTURES

DARREN Wright will always rate Hoylake as one one of his favourite courses.

It is after all where the former England international won the Brabazon Trophy in 2010 – beating Tyrrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood and a very young John Rahm in the process.

The Rowlands Castle player became just the ninth player to complete the double by winning the Carris at the English Boys’ Amateur Championship, to go with the English Men’s Amateur Strokeplay title he won at Royal Liverpool.

A year later, Wright was in the provisional Walker Cup squad but missed out having not been selected for England’s European Amateur Team Championships side two months before GB&I beat the USA at Royal Aberdeen with a team containing Andy Sullivan and Callum Shinkwin.

While Wright won at Burhill on the EuroPro Tour in 2015 on his way to earning a European Challenge Tour card after graduating via the PGA feeder tour, he never quite bridged the gap from the amateur game, and finally gave up professional golf at the start of 2017.

And although strokeplay is not the order of the day when the USA arrive on Merseyside this month, Wright is sure the course that he conquered so brilliantly nine years ago will present a unique challenge in the matchplay format with four foursomes and eight singles on the first day, and fours foursomes and 10 singles on Sunday.

Darren said: “It’s a challenge course with plenty of cross-winds as well as holes where it will help but also increase how long it plays.

Rowlands Castle’s Darren Wright won the Brabazon Trophy at the English Amateur Strokeplay four years after he won the Carris at the English Boys’ Amateur Championship.

“In 2010, it was very warm and the course was playing hard and fast, conditions like it was when Tiger won the Open in 2006 and used his two-iron so well – but left himself with a lot longer approaches into the greens.

“The Walker Cup teams might not experience similar conditions but Hoylake is a great track that will be perfect for the event all the top amateurs in the UK dream of playing in.

“Even since I won the Brab, technology has made great strides to help players hit it longer and more consistently.

“But there were holes in 2010 where the bunkers were perfectly placed to make you stand there on the tee and think about whether you wanted to take them on, or lay up short and leave yourself with a longer second shot.

“The drives on the first and the 16th by the practice ground are really dangerous if you are not hitting it straight with out of bounds in your face.

“So the start and closing stretch is very tough. But there is also a stretch around the turn where – especially if you get some help from the wind – you can attack the greens and get an eagle putt, which at worst will mean a birdie on the par five eighth.

“I played with Tyrrell Hatton for a couple of the rounds and was one in front of him after the third round.

“When I woke up on the last day I felt super confident. I just knew it was going to be my day.

“I raced to four or five-under by the turn and someone got word to me that I was eight shots clear at one point.

“But then the back nine got the better of me and I gave those shots back. Luckily, I knew my playing partners were behind me, and I got to 18 with a four-shot lead.

“Even though I was very nervous, I just concentrated on hitting the fairway and had a 35-foot for birdie, so I just rolled it up to the hole to a couple of feet.

“It’s a round – or a week – I am never going to forget. Tommy Fleetwood was the favourite and got off to a good start.

“Everyone said he was going to win but he had a nightmare second round while I shot four-under, and then added a couple of level-pars.

“But there is plenty of danger and it will be interesting to see how the Americans approach Hoylake.

“If they try what the USA did in the Ryder Cup at Le Paris National and just try and out-drive us, the course can catch them out as it did in France.

“I think it will come down to which team plays smartest. The par three holes are tough even if not that long.

“The 13th by the sea with a big bank has bunkers all around the green is only 161 yards.

“With any wind, which can affect your club selection or catch you out just as you hit the shot, if you get sucked into going for the pins and find yourself in the traps, you can fritter away a few holes.

“Middle of the green is going to be a good tactic, especially if you hit first and can put your opponents under pressure.”

While Darren, who now has his own property maintenance company, has come to terms with how his professional career panned out, it is clear that missing out on a Walker Cup is probably his biggest disappointment.

He loved representing England over two summers, having also been a junior international alongside Hampshire team-mate Sam Hutsby.

But his most recent discovery has boosted his Brabazon feelgood factor even more, nearly a decade on.

Darren said: “I only just realised that John Rahm was playing that year… he must have been a very young teenager.

“He finished 61st, Tommy Fleetwood was 21st and I beat Tyrrell who was sixth – all three played in the last Ryder Cup. Spain’s Adrian Otaegui was fifth and he has won twice on Tour too.”

That hopefully will be one to tell the children and grandchildren about one day…

•For live scoring from the first day’s play of the Walker Cup at Hoylake, click here.

The post Darren’s Wright way to go about tackling Hoylake and USA in the 43rd Walker Cup appeared first on Golf North.