The Yorkshire man played amazing golf all week at Ganton Golf Club to deservedly win the Men’s English Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship with a total of -11 (273).
This was achieved thanks to a starting round of 66 and three consecutive scores of 69.
Bairstow, however, had to fight a late charge from Zach Chegwidden to win by two shots.
Chegwidden’s seven under par in the final round of 64 thrilled the galleries and gave an exciting finale to four days of tough competition. Bairstow started the final round, delayed by half an hour due to 54mm of rain falling in the Pickering Valley overnight, with a five-shot lead over Kent’s Josh Bristow. Five holes into his final round, the England international had extended that lead to six thanks in part to a six-foot birdie putt on three. On the seventh hole, Essex’s Chegwidden had suddenly appeared in Bairstow’s rearview mirror after three birdies off a lightning start to their round brought them three shots behind the leader. And when the duo reached the back-nine, with Chegwidden two groups ahead of Bairstow, they got even closer.
Birdies at 12, 13 and 14 put Orsett’s golfer firmly in the mix just two shots behind Bairstow.
The final stretch of holes at Ganton is recognized as one of the toughest in the country, even without the pressure of one of golf’s most prestigious amateur titles at stake.
Chegwidden and Bairstow paired the final four holes, giving Bairstow a two-shot margin of victory, but it was closer than the facts suggest. On the 16th, Chegwidden’s birdie putt from 40 feet came to an agonizing stop on the edge of the cup.
And at 17, Bairstow had to make a slippery ten-foot put downhill for par to give him the luxury of playing 18 without too much nerves.
After achieving victory, popularly greeted by a host of players who waited to see Bairstow win the title, the champion said: “If you had given me two below par in the round before starting, I would have thought I would win by five or six “.
He added: “I don’t look at the leaderboards, but I saw one at 15 and noticed that Zach was nine down.
“It probably helped me because I knew I had to make the right golf shots and not just feed myself on the golf course.
“I was really glad the last three and doing it.
“It means a lot, I have had the feeling that a victory is coming this year. Doing it at my last big event feels really good. “
Referring to the par putt clutch he hit on the penultimate hole, Bairstow said: “I thought that if I hole it would give me a bigger cushion on the last hole. He didn’t want to go down there to have to do a pair.
“When I saw it turn and fall, it wasn’t finished, but it felt pretty close.”
Encouraged by friends and family from Sheffield and his local Hallowes club, Bairstow admitted that the victory had additional significance.
He said: “It is very special, especially in Yorkshire. I had a lot of people supporting me, which was nice.
“I managed to close it on the last few holes.”
The victory comes near the end of an incredible summer for Bairstow, who qualified for The Open at Royal St George’s.
He added: “I wasn’t as nervous today as I was on the first tee at the Open, but I definitely felt it on the last ones.
“That (playing The Open) helped me and I hit the shots when I needed to.”
And being so well received as a champion by his teammates, Bairstow said: “Here at the top of the amateur game in the UK, everyone gets along.
“It’s a good environment to play. Everyone can win and it’s good to play against people you can beat as well.”
Chegwidden received some consolation, whose final round of 64 had seven birdies and no bogeys, when he won the Scrutton Jug for combined best scores at the Brabazon and the Berkshire Trophy, which he won in June.
Chegwidden said: “It was pretty crazy, really.
“I got to a point at 13 where I hit a good ten foot shot to get to six and I thought I might have a chance. I also birdied the next one.
“I needed a few more birdies, but I ended up with four straight pairs. I left my putt at 16 a short hair.
“I am 100% proud of this week’s efforts. If someone had said he would be tied for fourth in the Brabazon’s last round and then shot 64, he would have taken it.
“Congratulations Sam, he has been playing quality golf all week. He showed his class. “
The George Henriques Salver, featured to the GB&I lead player under 20, was shared by England men’s team members Josh Hill and Frank Kennedy with a score of +1.
The winner of that award the last time the Brabazon was performed at Ganton in 2006 was Rory McIlroy.
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Source: www.yorkshirepost.co.uk
This notice was published: 2021-08-22 21:27:37
