Walton Heath’s Enrique Dimayuga is tied at the top of the leaderboard with Denmark’s Christoffer Bring in the Brabazon Trophy. Pictures by LEADERBOARD PHOTOGRAPHY

ENRIQUE Dimayuga hopes a “bargain buy” three-iron can help him enjoy some long-awaited success in Friday’s final round of the Brabazon Trophy.

Surrey’s Dimayuga shot to the top of the leaderboard on day three of the English Amateur Strokeplay Championship at Sherwood Forest Golf Club – thanks to a brilliant five-under par round of 66.

Denmark’s Christoffer Bring joined the Walton Heath golfer at the summit. The Dane carded a best-of-the-day round of 65 to match Dimayuga on 11-under.

Yorkshire’s England squad member Sam Bairstow is just one shot further back on 10-under after shooting 67 for a second consecutive day.

France’s David Ravetto and halfway leader Jack Dyer, from Boyce Hill, are still very much in the hunt on nine-under par after 54 holes.

In total, there are 14 players within six shots of the lead teeing up what could be a dramatic final day in the fight to win one of amateur golf’s most prestigious trophies.

However, the bubbly Dimayuga will be the man to beat in the final round if a used club he bought for £50 from his local pro shop continues to behave.

“The shaft on the iron is really whippy so I just keep hitting these long looping draws,” said Dimayuga with a smile after confessing his poor form with the driver has resulted in him using it only once this week.

“The head on my regular three-iron snapped recently. So I went with this one,” said Dimayuga, who was an England junior international until joining the men’s ranks this year.

“But it’s working well. I felt like I’m having fun. I’m not even thinking about what I’m doing.

Iron play key for ex-England junior

Dimuyaga was happy with his play at the Nottinghamshire course.

“My iron play has been really solid and my swing is good,” he said. “And I’m dialled in in terms of yardages and judging the wind.

“I haven’t won anything in a long time and my form over the last calendar year has been pretty good.

“I’m just waiting for an opportunity to be in that final group and be in a position to take the win and I feel like it’s coming, hopefully, tomorrow.

“I can’t guarantee anything and I wouldn’t bet on myself just yet.”

When reminded that Tiger Woods won an Open Championship at Royal Liverpool 14 years ago hitting an iron off every tee, Dimayuga said with a smile: “I won’t go as far as saying I’m Tiger Woods – I’d hope I can play to some of that form.”

Bring’s day included an eagle at the fifth hole and a birdie on the 14^th after he holed from a greenside bunker.

“I feel confident and will go out and see what happens,” admitted the golfer from Naestved, 70 miles south of Copenhagen.

Bring added: “I got off to a slow start and then I made an eagle on the fifth and that kind of got me into the round.

“I made a lot of putts from the fifth through to the 12^th and holed a bunker shot on 14 – so that was great.”

Essex’s Jack Dyer is still in touch with the leaders at the English Amateur Strokeplay Championship at Sherwood Forest, trailing Dimayuga by two shots

Moving day for Carris winner Brown

IT was a classic “moving day” at the Brabazon, with the entire field of 68 players harbouring hopes of going low.

Many of them did – no fewer than 27 golfers shot rounds under-par.

Yorkshire’s Barclay Brown certainly made a move – a round of 66 taking him to seven-under for the championship and into a tie for sixth.

Yet Hallamshire GC’s former England junior international will look back on his third round with a mixture of quiet satisfaction and total disbelief.

The Stanford University student was disarmingly honest about a day that saw him eagle the fifth with a putt that was charging 10 feet past.

A fluke hole-in-one on the 131-yard seventh hole best summed up the 2018 Carris Trophy winner’s day.

Brown laughed: “I’d like to say it was a great shot but I knifed it.

“It’s my sixth hole in one, but not the prettiest. I wasn’t playing my best and had to grind it out.”

Only nine players have ever won the Carris and Brabazon Trophy – including Rotherham’s Ben Schmidt.

Twelve months ago, the England international became just the fourth to complete the double in the same year.

The winner of the 2020 New South Wales Amateur also became the youngest player to win the Brabazon, at Alwoodley, in 2019.

The 16-year-old broke Sandy Lyle’s record set in 1975 in the process.

Cope climbs leaderboard after making cut on the mark

ANOTHER player emerging from the pack to give himself a slim hope of victory is newly-crowned English Amateur champion Jack Cope.

The Gloucestershire ace made the cut right on the number thanks to a birdie on the 36^th hole. He then shot a third round of 66.

When asked to compare his last two rounds, Players Club member Cope said: “Black and white – not just golf, but in terms of attitude as well.

“I’m very pleased to shoot 65 and get up the leaderboard.”

•For live scoring in the final round of the Brabazon Trophy click here.

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The Continent of Europe team who beat Great Britain and Ireland to win the Jacques Leglise Trophy at Aldeburgh GC. Picture by THE R&A / GETTY IMAGES

THE Continent of Europe won the 2019 Jacques Léglise Trophy after defeating Great Britain and Ireland 15½-9½ at Aldeburgh Golf Club.

Leading 6½-5½ at the start of play on the second day, the Europeans consolidated their lead by winning three of the four morning foursomes matches leaving them 9½-6½ up going into this afternoon’s singles matches.

Joachim Fourquet’s side then picked up six of the nine available points in the afternoon singles to seal their first win in the boys’ international match since 2017 when they triumphed 15½-9½ at Ballybunion, in Ireland.

The visitors strengthened their grip on the contest in the morning foursomes.

While Yorkshire’s Ben Schmidt and Welsh Amateur Champion Archie Davies combined well to defeat the French pair of Charles Larcelet and Tom Vaillant, it was the only point won by the GB&I in the early session.

Adam Wallin and Loic Ettlin were too strong for the fancied GB&I pairing of GB&I captain Barclay Brown, from Hallamshire GC, and England’s Florida-based junior international Joe Pagdin, who lost 4&2.

Bård Bjørnevik Skogen and Matteo Cristoni were always in control of their match over Scotland’s Connor McKinney and Ireland’s Aaron Marshall winning two-up.

While Irish junior internationals Tom McKibbin and Josh Hill held the early advantage in their match against Daniel da Costa Rodrigues and David Puig the European pair fought back from being two-down after three holes.

They squared the match at the sixth hole and at the 14^th the GB&I pairing again gained an advantage that was quickly lost at the next.

With da Costa Rodrigues and Puig winning the final two holes of the match they went on to seal the Continent of Europe’s third point of the morning.

With Europe needing just three-and-a-half points from the nine singles matches in the afternoon, Larcelet was the first to strike.

He landed a big blow to the GB&I team, fighting back from three-down after five holes to defeat Brabazon and Carris Trophy double winner Schmidt, the highest ranked player in the field, 2&1

Wallin staved off a late charge from McKinney, defeating the Scott 2&1 to provide the Continent of Europe with its second point in the singles matches.

Bjørnevik-Skogen made short work of Davies, needing just 16 holes to win his match 4&2 against the Welsh international, who plays at Carlisle GC.

Now needing just half a point to win the 2019 Jacques Léglise Trophy it was Ettlin who secured the victory for the Continent of Europe – when he disposed of Ireland’s Luke O’Neill 4&3.

Puig and da Costa Rodrigues also secured points for the Continent when they won their matches against Marshall and McKibbin.

Playing in the first singles match out in the afternoon, Pagdin did his best to mount a comeback for GB&I. In control from the start, the Lake Nona member defeated Alvaro Mueller-Baumgart 3&1.

However, with the Continent of Europe claiming the next three matches, the GB&I had left their charge too late.

Brown, last year’s Daily Telegraph Junior Champion, won his match against Matteo Cristoni putting on an impressive display to fight back from three-down at the eighth hole to win two-up on the 17^th.

McGregor Trophy winner Hill claimed GB&I’s final point when he recorded a one-up victory over Vaillant.

Europe’s non-playing captain Joachim Fourquet said: “I am very, very proud of my team, they showed a lot of things this afternoon.

“First, they showed that they are not just 16, 17 or 18 years old, they are real players – they know how to manage the course.

“It was so different to yesterday afternoon, with the attitude and everything, they played really well this afternoon.

“The thing with the European team is you have 48 hours to create team spirit, it was better and better as the week went on.

“I could feel it last night, they were all talking and joking so I think today we were a real team, yesterday it was 75 per cent and two days ago it was 50 per cent. The attitude and team spirit was amazing today.”

Stuart Wilson, chairman of the Great Britain and Ireland’s Boys Selectors, put a brave face on the defeat at the Suffolk club overlooking the North Sea and River Alde, which strangely has no par fives.

Wilson said: “There were a lot of positives, I think the guys changed their approach a little bit to put the challenge up to the European guys this afternoon.

“But unfortunately they were just too strong for us. They kept the ball in play a little more than us and holed a few more putts – and in the end that makes all the difference.

“We knew they were going to be good, they definitely brought a strong team.

“But we were hopeful with the guys that we had assembled and confident coming into the match that we could repeat a result from Finland last year – but it just wasn’t to be I am afraid.

The victory marks the 13th time that the Continent of Europe has won the Jacques Léglise Trophy since the boys’ international match between the two teams was rejuvenated in 1977.

The GB&I has won the Jacques Léglise Trophy on 29 occasions, with one match tied at Royal Dornoch in 2015.

The 2020 Jacques Léglise Trophy will be played at Blairgowrie in Scotland from August 28-29.

Wilson, the Scottish winner of the 2004 Amateur Championship, added: “It will be nice to be up in Scotland at Blairgowrie.

“It’s a cracking course up there. The players will enjoy it and they have another a year to get ready for it.”

The post Wilson’s wonders are put to sword at Aldeburgh as Europe wins Jacques Léglise appeared first on Golf North.

ENGLAND have won the R&A Boys’ Home Internationals for the fourth year running after defeating Ireland 8-7 in a nail-biting title decider at Ashburnham Golf Club.

For the second straight year, England triumphed at the expense of its Irish counterparts in a tense contest at the South Wales links course.

The match was almost a carbon copy of last year at Royal Dornoch. England won the deciding match by the identical score of 8-7 but, as with 12 months ago, it could have easily gone to the Irish.

England staged a remarkable comeback after losing the first morning foursomes session in three days of competition.

The Irish took a two-point lead into the 10 afternoon singles after winning the foursomes 3½-1½ – and looked like winning the trophy for the first time since 2013.

The early projections in the afternoon were Ireland would go on to win 8-7.But England slowly turned the tables on a strong Ireland team with good victories in the first seven matches.

They won five of those matches to get in front and it was an edge they would never relinquish.

Stoke Park’s World No. 2 Conor Gough led his side in the first singles matches and the B.B.&O. teeanger gained a half against Tom McKibbin.

Conor Gough, winner of last week’s English Amateur at Hankley Common, earned England a vital half against Ireland’s Tom McKibbin, in the Boys’ Home Internatinals, at Ashburnham.
Picture by ANDREW GRIFFIN / AMG PICTURES

That result took the score to 4-2. USA-based Joe Pagdin and Peterborough Milton’s Robin Williams quickly evened the score at 4-4 with respective victories over Luke O’Neill and Aaron Marshal.

Ireland’s Joshua Hill hit back with a 5&4 victory over Hallamshire’s Barclay Brown to put Ireland ahead.

Hill deserves special mention as the reigning McGregor Trophy champion was the only player over the three days to win six points out of six.

England’s Max Hopkins, from Bishop’s Stortford, in Hertfordshire, wasn’t far behind, winning five and a half out of a possible six points.

Hill’s brilliant play couldn’t stop the English comeback though. The trio of Hopkins, Enrique Dimayuga, from Walton Heath, and Ipswich’s Habebul Islam put three further points on the board

That took their side to seven points and within reach of a fourth straight title win.

Islam’s match proved key to England’s success. He held a one-hole lead against Simon Walker playing the last and looked like he might lose the hole when he hit his second shot close to the out-of-bounds line on the left.

Suffolk’s Habebul Islam made a superb up-and-down on the last to beat ireland’s Simon Walker to set up the deciding match in England’s favour at Ashburnham GC. Picture by ANDREW GRIFFIN / AMG PICTURES

He then made the up and down of his young life, pitching the ball from 80 yards to four feet and holing the subsequent putt for par after Walker had missed his 20-foot birdie putt.

Cue delight from the English players watching Islam playing the 18^th. That point set up Callum Macfie to deliver the coup de grace.

The Lindrick teenager duly did so by birdieing the 17^th hole to defeat Max Kennedy 2&1 and ensure England retained the trophy for yet another year.

England captain Stephen Burnett said: “Even though we lost the foursomes this morning, I just felt that we could get six points out of the singles and that would do the job.

“We’ve got a very strong team and I knew they might just be stronger over the closing nine holes when the conditions got a little tougher.

“The wind picked up and the back nine played harder and the boys showed their talent by turning matches around that Ireland could’ve won.

“We got a lot of good performances. I thought Conor’s half point in the first match was important to get us off to a good start.

“Habebul’s par at the 18^th when he got up and down from 80 yards was crucial because it set up Callum to take us over the line, which he did.

“I’m over the moon,” Burnett added.

His Irish counterpart Alasdair Gibson was proud of his players despite coming up short for teh second year in a row.

Gibson said: “For the second year in a row we’ve just came up short. That’s golf. The first nine holes of the singles we were looking okay and it just turned around a bit.

“We were always struggling in matches there on the back nine. We did very well this morning in the foursomes. The boys played very well.

“The golf this afternoon was very good. There were a lot of birdies out there and at the end of the day they got more than we did.

“It was good effort but we just came up short. There’s no shame in losing to a strong team like England.”

Scotland and Wales finally got some joy in the foursomes after difficult results in the first two days.

They split the session 2½-2½ to set up an intriguing singles contest in the match for third place. Scotland won the session 6½-3½ to beat the Welsh 9-6 to finish third.

For full match results over the three days click here.

COVER IMAGE: England after winning the R&A Boys’ Home Internationals four a fourth year in a row by defeating Ireland at Ashburnham GC, on Thursday. Picture by THE R&A / GETTY IMAGES

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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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