Craig Passmore shoots 58 by holing wedge shot at the last at Bristol’s Players Club

SHOOTING a score of 59 is the impossible dream for most golfers… but England boys’ squad member Craig Passmore is not your average golfer.

And at the tender age of 17, Passmore has already exceeded his wildest golfing fantasy to record a stunning round of 58.

“It was pretty insane,” remarked Passmore in what may go down as the understatement of the 2019 season.

Picture the scene. Standing on the 18^th fairway at the Players Club, near Bristol, the young golfer from Devon knew that a birdie three at the final hole would give him that magical score of 59.

No mean feat on a course with a par of 72.

Inevitably, there was a buzz as a small crowd of fellow competitors and curious spectators from the clubhouse gathered behind the green eager to watch the drama unfold.

Having played without fear all day, Passmore wasn’t about to change tactic having gone out in 30 strokes.

The youngster pulled out a wedge, steadied himself, took aim at the pin – and promptly holed out from 45 yards to nail a 58 having completed the back nine in just 28 shots!

It’s no wonder that the student from South Gloucestershire and Stroud College lost his mind for a few seconds.

“I just dropped the club and held my head in my hands,” revealed Passmore as he reflected on the craziest round of his fledgling career.

“My previous best score was a round of seven-under par. To then come in with a round that was 14-under par is surreal.

“I have to say everyone at the course was really happy for me and the boys I know in the England set-up were also quick to pass on their congratulations on social media.

“There were a few comments expressing disbelief – but I guess that was to be expected.”

Craig Passmore’s scorecard showing his score of 58 after the South Gloucestershire and Stroud College student holed his second shot at the 18th from 45 yards to get to 14-under

Craig has had a good year – he reached the last 64 of the English Amateur at Surrey’s Hankley Common, in early August, and was knocked out in the quarter-finals of the Boys’ Amateur Championship, by Telegraph Junior Champion Barclay Brown, from Hallamshire GC, two weeks later. 0

Passmore also qualified for the Justin Rose Telegraph Junior Championship, in the Algarve, last month, where he finished fourth overall, behind fellow England Boys squad member Ben Schmidt, from Rotherham GC.

The teenager also helped Devon win the English Boys County Finals at North Foreland, in Kent, in August.

•To learn more about Craig Passmore click here.

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Thurloway, from Chartham Park, beat Gloucestershire’s Joe Long 6&5 in last year’s final at Formby, and is now seeking to become the first player to win back-to-back championships since Paul Casey in 2000 and 2001.

Long, from Lansdown Golf Club, also returns attempting to go one better than last year – having played well in the 2018 Hampshire Hog, which was won by his close friend Mitch Waite, who is now in the pro ranks.

Saunton GC’s Jake Burnage the 2017 Hampshire Hog winner. Picture by ANDREW GRIFFIN / AMG PICTURES

St Andrews Links Trophy winner Jake Burnage, from North Devon’s Saunton GC, also made his breakthrough win at North Hants just two years ago.

Burnage missed the European Amateur Team Championships in Sweden earlier this month – something that would normally preclude a player’s chance of Walker Cup selection.

Burnage, who starteed the season in the England A squad, will be battling against his nine England rivals, who are keen to press their claims for one of the 10 spots in Walker Cup captain Craig Watson’s team to face the Americans at Royal Liverpool, in September.

The top-ranked player in this year’s field is World No. 30, Tom Sloman, from Somerset’s Taunton & Pickeridge Golf Club, who won the individual title at the European Nations Cup at Spain’s Sotogrande, in the spring.

Sloman is joined by Lindrick and Yorkshire’s Bailey Gill and Yeovil and Somerset’s Tom Plumb, who were also part of the English squad that defended the team title in southern Spain – all three are in the GB&I squad.

With the team expected to be named in less than two weeks after the US Amateur, the English event represents B.B.&O.’s David Langley’s last chance to impress on UK soil at least.

Wallasey’s Walker Cup hopeful Joshua McMahon. Picture by ANDREW GRIFFIN / AMG PICTURES

Also looking to impress the Walker Cup selectors are Wallasey’s Josh McMahon, who was named in the provisional 16-man squad after his victory in the Lytham Trophy, in May, and Northamptonshire County’s Ben Jones, who reached the last four in The Amaetur Championship at Portmarnock, in June.

West Cornwall’s Brabazon runner-up Harry Hall and Hexham’s Matty Lamb – who were part of the English team that finished runner-up to hosts Sweden in the recent European Men’s Team Championship – are also heading to the Hampshire-Surrey border with the two qualifying courses which are just 11 miles apart.

Lamb has already won at North Hants this year having claimed the Hampshire Hog with a superb course record 63 in the second round, in April and earned his GB&I call-up with some strong showings since.

Also teeing it up at the Fleet club where Justin Rose made a name for himself as an amateur by Hallamshire and Yorkshire’s Alex Fitzpatrick, whose brother Matt has been a Ryder Cup team-mate of Rose’s.

Wiltshire’s England A squad member Jake Bolton, from Ogbourne Downs, went close at North Hants to landing both the Hampshire Hog and the Hampshire Salver, having to settle for runner-up.

Hexham’s Matty Lamb winner of the Hampshire Hog, at North Hants GC, in April. Picture by ANDREW GRIFFIN / AMG PICTURES

Fellow squad member Billy McKenzie will lead the Hampshire charge aiming to follow in the footsteps of Meon Valley’s Harry Ellis, who became the youngest-ever winner of the English Amateur in 2012, aged just 16, breaking Sir Nick Faldo’s record which had stood since 1975.

Corhampton’s Scott Gregory was the beaten finalist at Saunton in 2014 – two yeas before he became Hampshire’s first-ever Amateur Champion and lost in the 2016 Spanish Amateur to France’s Romain Langasque, who had won the R&A’s prestigious crown the previous summer at Carnoustie.

McKenzie, having had dreams of making this year’s Walker Cup squad after his Spanish Amateur final win over Fitzpatrick in 2018, will be keen to make up for lost time and emulate former Hampshire Boys team-mate’s Gregory and Ellis by reaching the latter stages of the matchplay.

The left-hander, who was ranked in the top five in the USA’s NAIA rankings between 2014 and 2017 while at William Woods University, beat Castle Royle’s Langley 7&6 in front of the Great Britain and Ireland selectors at Portmarnock, last month.

Other England A squad members teeing it up are Northamptonshire County’s Callum Farr, who won the 2018 Selborne Salver at Blackmoor’s equally demanding heathland track, and Cheshire’s James Newton, from Prestbury, winner of the Irish Amateur Strokeplay, in May.

Howley Hall’s Ben Hutchinson, a member of the England A squad. Picture by ANDREW GRIFFIN / AMG PICTURES.

Yorkshire’s Ben Hutchinson, from Howley Hall, Hertfordshire’s Harry Goddard (Hanbury Manor) and Lincolnshire’s Sam Done, from Kenwick Park, are the other England A squad members who will want a good week.

They can push their cases for a place in England’s Home Internationals team that willl head to Lahinch, the recent venue for the Irish Open on the European Tour, as defending champions, in September.

The field of 288 players also includes England Boy’s squad members Barclay Brown, also a member at Yorkshire’s Hallamshire GC, Surrey’s Enrique Dimayuga (Walton Heath), Stoke Park’s 2018 British Boys champion Conor Gough, Dubai=based Josh Hill, Hertfordshire’s Max Hopkins, Suffolk’s Habebul Islam, Trevose’s George Leigh, and Berkshamsted’s Ben Pierleoni.

The players were due to play 18 holes at both courses in qualifying with the top 64 and ties going through to the matchplay, although with a very poor weather forceast, including the threat of thunderstorms, organisers England Golf will be prepared for the possibility of qualifying being decided over 18 holes – as it was at Alwoodley, in Leeds, four years ago.

The seeded draw should commence on Thursday morning at Hankley Common, with a possible preliminary round. The last 32 and 16 matches are scheduled for Friday with the quarter and semi-finals due to be played on Saturday with the 36-hole final on Sunday.

For live scoring click here.

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The Brabazon Trophy at Alwoodley Golf Club which hosts the English Open Amateur Strokeplay Championship starting today, Picture by LEADERBOARD PHOTOGRAPHY

AN international field has assembled for the Brabazon Trophy, one of the most prestigious championships in the world of men’s amateur golf, which starts today at Leeds’ Alwoodley Golf Club.

Players from more than a dozen countries will bid to become the English Men’s Open Amateur Strokeplay Champion with four rounds being played before Sunday’s climax.

They include South African Amateur Champion Wilco Nienaber – ranked 40th in the world – who was pipped to the Brabazon title in a play-off last year by Nick Poppleton.

Although the Yorkshireman has turned professional, there’s a very strong contingent determined to keep the trophy in the host county.

The 17 Yorkshire players in the field include the England internationals Lindrick’s Bailey Gill, fellow England internationals David Hague, from Malton & Norton, and Howley Hall’s Ben Hutchinson, together with Rotherham’s England Junior international Ben Schmidt.

Among the others are county champion Sam Rook, who is a member Lindrick, and county matchplay champion Max Berrisford, from Skipton. Alwoodley itself fields one player – Tom Irwin.

The English challenge from further afield includes Wallasey’s Josh McMahon – recent winner of the Lytham Trophy – Sussex’s English Amateur Champion Thomas Thurloway, from Chartham Park, Somerset’s European Nations Cup champion Tom Sloman, from Taunton & Pickeridge, and county team-mate Tom Plumb, from Yeovil, the winner of the Cape Province Open, in South Africa.

It is a Walker Cup year and many members of the initial squad are in the field and keen to make an impression on the selectors.

There’s nine Englishmen: Gill, Hague, Plumb, Sloman, and Thurloway together with Saunton’s Jake Burnage, West Cornwall’s Harry Hall, Ben Jones, from Northamptonshire County, and England junior cap Robin Williams, from Peterborough Milton, who has already played on the European Tour.

Hampshire who have won the Brabazon Trophy three times since 2010 will be strongly represented by a trio of Rowlands Castle members including 2010 winner Darren Wright, last year’s Spanish Amateur Champion Billly McKenzie, and club assistant secretary Tom Robson, who finished in the top 10 at Frilford.

It is also the 70th anniversary since Hampshire’s Paddy Hine completed a remarkable treble at the age of just 17.

Hine won the Brabazon, the Carris Trophy at the English Boys Open Amateur Strokeplay, and the Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Channel Islands Amateur Championship in the space of three months in an era when boys could not regularly outwit their stronger elders – as they can today.

From the other home countries, Ireland’s Conor Purcell, who is ranked 21st in the world, Caolan Rafferty, John Murphy and James Sugrue, will carry the Emerald Isle’s hopes.

Scottish champion Euan McIntosh, African Amateur Champion Euan Walker, Kieran Cantley and Jamie Stewart, will fly the flag for Scotland, while Welsh hopes will rest with Jake Hapgood and Ben Chamberlain.

Another 60 players came through England Golf’s two qualifiers at Hindhead and Lindrick.

Charl Schwartzel won the Brabazon Trophy at Royal Cinque Ports in 2002. Picture by ANDREW GRIFFIN / AMG PICTURES

•Past winners of the Brabazon include Sandy Lyle, the youngest-ever winner at 17, Peter Baker, Ronan Rafferty, Gordon Brand Jnr, and Paul Way – who all went on to play in the Ryder Cup.

In 2002, South African Charl Schwartzel also won the title in Kent, as a 17-year-old at Deal’s Royal Cinque Ports, before turning pro in 2003 and winning on the European Tour at the end of 2004.

Alwoodley: First MacKenzie design

ALWOODLEY will set them all a fine test of golf. The Yorkshire heathland set up is regarded as one of the country’s finest inland courses.

It was the first designed by Dr Alister MacKenzie, who went on to create Augusta National, Australia’s Royal Melbourne – the venue for December’s Presidents Cup – and California’s Cypress Point.

The club is hosting the Brabazon Trophy for the first time and will be broadcasting live coverage of today’s first day’s play on its YouTube channel and via social media.

Alwoodley hosted the English Amateur in 2003 when Gary Lockerbie was crowned champion, and in 2016 when Lindrick’s Joe Dean claimed the title.

Kettering’s Charley Hull won the English Ladies Amateur Championship at Alwoodley in 2011 – the third time the heathland course on Wigton Moor, to the north of Leeds, has held the event.

•For more information on the Brabazon, including tee times, click here.

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Stoke Park Conor Gough is the youngest member of the GB&I Walker Cup squad named this week. Picture courtesy The R&A

STOKE Park’s reigning British Amateur champion Conor Gough heads a strong contingent of 12 players from England included in the Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup squad, named today.

The R&A has announced an initial squad of 26 players who are in contention for selection for the GB&I team to play against the United States of America in the 47^th Walker Cup match at Royal Liverpool, in September.

Sixteen-year-old Gough, who made his Home Internationals debut for England at men’s level last summer is the youngest in the squad in which only nine are aged over 21.

The host nations are aiming to win back the trophy after losing 19-7 at the Los Angeles Country Club two years ago – when there were three Hampshire players in the team.

Captain Craig Watson said, “We have selected a talented group of players who are all in contention for a place in the team to play the United States of America, and will be continuing to monitor the form and results of these players over the course of the season.

“We will also be looking closely at the performances of other players who have not been included in the squad and there is still time for them to play their way into our plans ahead of the final team selection later this year.”

Somerset’s Tom Sloman, who won the 2019 Copa Sotagrande recently, and Dorset’s SANLAM Cape Province Open champion, Thomas Plumb, also feature in a group of 12 English players.

Gough is the same age Hampshire’s Justin Rose was when he became the youngest to be picked to play in the biennial clash which is the amateur game’s equivalent to the Ryder Cup, back in 1997.

Rose had just turned 17 by the time he appeared at Pine Ridge and Essex’s Oliver Fisher broke that record in Chicago in 2005.

Gough is bidding to become the first B.B.&O. player to be picked for the Walker Cup since Luke Donald, who was on the winning team at Nairn in 1999, and again at Sea Island, in Georgia, when Peter McEvoy led GB&I to back-to-back victories for the first time, and won on US soil for only the second time since 1922.

Also in the squad is Sussex’s English Amateur Champion Tom Thurloway (Chartham Park) and Devon’s Jake Burnage, who made a late bid for selection in 2017.

Six players from Scotland have been chosen, including 2019 African Amateur champion, Euan Walker and reigning Scottish Amateur champion, Euan McIntosh, who is the oldest member at 50.

Sandy Scott, who won the El Macero Classic earlier this month, Royal Wimbledon’s Marquette Intercollegiate champion Ryan Lumsden, Kieran Cantley and Jamie Stewart are also in Watson’s plans.

Conor Purcell, who won the 2019 Australian Amateur Championship, is among five players from Ireland to feature in Watson’s squad.

He is joined by 2019 West of Ireland Amateur champion Caolan Rafferty, 2018 Eisenhower Trophy player John Murphy, Mark Power and James Sugrue.

Irish Boys Amateur champion Archie Davies, who hails from Carlisle and is only 17, Ben Chamberlain and Jake Hapgood are the three players from Wales.

There are four players under the age of 18 – the other two are Peterborough Milton’s Robin Williams and Sheffield’s Joseph Pagdin, who is based at Florida’s Lake Nona, and has signed to play for University of Florida, from 2020.

Northamptonshire County’s Benjamin Jones, Pagdin, Williams, Plumb, Gough, and Hallamshire’s Alex Fitzpatrick – the younger brother of Ryder Cup player Matt, who played in the 2013 Walker Cup, were all members of the England Boys team that won the 2017 Home Internationals at St Anne’s Old Links.

The GB&I Walker Cup squad will gather at Royal Liverpool for a practice session next week, ahead of the Lytham Trophy, after which the number of players will be reduced for a second practice session in July.

As well as the Lytham Trophy at Royal Lytham (May 3-5), and the Brabazon Trophy, at Alwoodley, at end of May, the selectors will be watching events during the St Andrews Links at the Home of Golf in early June – the UK’s other major 72-hole strokeplay championship, which attracts an international field.

The final 10-man GB&I team will be announced in August after the Home Nations hold their respective amateur championships in the first week of the month.

The English Amateur (July 30-August 4) is being held at Hankley Common, in Surrey, with qualifying being jointly held at North Hants GC, while the Scottish event is at Crail in the same week.

The Welsh championship is being held at Tenby, from July 29-August 2, while the Irish Amateur Championship is being staged at Ballybunion, from August 3-7.

The full squad is (England players in bold):

Jake Burnage, 23, Saunton
John Murphy, 20, Kinsale
Kieran Cantley, 21, Liberton
Joseph Pagdin, 17, Lake Nona
Ben Chamberlain, 21, Padeswood & Buckley
Thomas Plumb, 20, Yeovil
Archie Davies, 17, Carlisle
Mark Power, 18, Kilkenny
Alex Fitzpatrick, 20, Hallamshire
Conor Purcell, 21, Portmarnock
Bailey Gill, 21, Lindrick
Caolan Rafferty, 26, Dundalk
Conor Gough, 16, Stoke Park
Sandy Scott, 20, Nairn
David Hague, 22, Malton & Norton
Tom Sloman, 22, Taunton & Pickeridge
Harry Hall, 21, West Cornwall
Jamie Stewart, 19, Old Course Ranfurly
Jake Hapgood, 22, Southerndown
James Sugrue, 22, Mallow
Benjamin Jones, 19, Northamptonshire County
Tom Thurloway, 21, Chartham Park.
Ryan Lumsden, 22, Royal Wimbledon
Euan Walker, 23, Kilmarnock (Barassie)
Euan McIntosh, 50, Turnhouse
Robin Williams, 17, Peterborough Milton

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