England junior international Robin Williams on his way to a record-equalling eigh- shot victory against the pro’s in the Journey to Jordan 2, at Ayla Golf Club. Picture by MENA TOUR

ENGLAND junior international Robin “Tiger” Williams equalled the biggest-ever margin of victory on the MENA Tour – winning by eight shots in Jordan this week.

The 18-year-old from Peterborough Milton Golf Club, who has been touted as England’s next world star, produced a grandstand finish to win the sixth leg of the Dubai-based Tour, which can provide invites into some of the European and Asian Tours’ biggest events.

Williams birdied his final five holes to win the $100,000 Journey To Jordan-2 tournament, at Ayla Golf Club, in Aqaba, Jordan.

In the sixth leg of the 2019 season of the MENA Tour by Williams shot a final-round six-under par 66 to finish on 16-under for the 54-hole event.

That was eight better than the second-placed Jack Floydd, another amateur from Sussex.

Ranked 100th on the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), Williams rewrote several records.

The England Boys cap, who was part of the winning Home Internationals team in August, became the third amateur champion in the history of the MENA Tour.

Williams was also the 20th player to lead wire-to-wire. His eight-shot win was the biggest margin of victory in a 54-hole tournament, matching the previous mark set by Matthew Baldwin, also at Ayla Golf Club in the Journey To Jordan-1.

Williams, who played in the 2018 Junior Ryder Cup, made a birdie-birdie start and his lead was never threatened.

Despite making bogeys on the sixth and 13th holes, he was one-under par with a birdie on the par-three 12th hole.

The bogey on the par-five 13th triggered the birdie run which saw the South Africa-born player pick up shots in each of the final five holes.

Williams first became involved in the England Golf regional set-up as a 12-year-old.

As well as helping England win the Boys’ Home Internationals for the fourth year in a row at Ashburnham GC, he also played for his country at the European Boys’ Team Championships.

Williams also competed at the first stage of the European Tour Qualifying School in September, and a final round 66 at Stoke-by-Nayland GC helped him finish fourth to qualify for November’s second stage.

Floydd, a member at Haywards Heath GC, shot a flawless 67 to finish ahead of  Burhill’s leading professionals Australia’s Daniel Gaunt (70) and South African MG Keyser (69).

The pair have both been winners in the 2019 season on the MENA Tour, and split the combined prize money for the first two places, because of Williams and Floydd’s amateur status.

Essex’s Curtis Knipes (70) completed a fantastic day for the amateurs as he finished tied fifth at six-under alongside Surrey’s Zane Scotland (67) – the MENA Tour’s most successful player, Chile’s Matias Calderon (66) and England’s Benjamin David (70).

You can see the final leaderboard by clicking here.

Another of England’s young stars gaining experience on the MENA Tour is Josh Hill, who is based in Dubai, and has been named in the England Boys team for 2020.

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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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