One bad hole so costly for Milton's young Tiger

The 15 year-old star made his England Boys debut helping England to Nations Cup glory, he finished third in the English Under 16 Open and fifth in the English Under 18 Open.

And that fifth place, which came at the West Sussex Golf Club on Friday (July 28), could quite easily have been top spot but for one disastrous hole.

The former Hampton Hargate School pupil went into the final round in third place, just three shots off the lead, after firing rounds of 65, 68 and 68.

And he made a great start to the final round as well. He had plenty of birdies on the front nine including three in a row and shared the championship lead with his playing partners Italy’s Andrea Romano (17) and Jean Bekirian (15) of France on eight under.

But then disaster struck at the 12th.

Williams’ shot to the par three went right, into thick rough and heather close to the out of bounds fence. He took a drop, but the ball bounced into a ghastly lie and he could only hack at it. He took another drop, played out and made his way towards an eight and that put paid to his bid for glory.

To his enormous credit he played the remaining holes in level par and said afterwards: “My luck wasn’t with me today, but I tried my best and gave it my all – and it was just one hole that messed it up. Overall the week has been great, I handled myself well and I’m looking forward to next week and the English amateur.”

Williams’ misfortune left Romano and Bekirian to fight it out for the championship and Romano won it on countback after both finished on 264. Williams was back in fifth spot on 271.

Williams didn’t go home empty-handed though. He picked up the Malcolm Reid Salver for the best combined score in the Carris Trophy (Under 16 Open) and Peter McEvoy Tropy (Under 18 Open).

EAST PGA

Thorpe Wood professional Stuart Brown finished second in the Haverill Pro-Am on the East PGA circuit.

He fired a three-under-par 67 to finish one shot behind Andrew Pestell from Chelmsford Golf Club.

Brown had five birdies on his card and picked up a runners-up cheque for £530.

Brown also got among the prizemoney at the Colchester Golf Club Pro-Am on Friday. He placed eighth with a one-under-par 69 after making 17 pars and a birdie and won £285.

The winner was James Scade from Little Channels Golf Centre with a 65.

GREETHAM VALLEY

Joe Sargood is the new junior club champion at Greetham Valley.

He took the title with a 156 total. Runner-up on 163 was Ellie Haughton with Tom Haynes third on 166.

Sargood also took the net prize with 136.

Sargood’s total was made up of rounds of 80 and 76.

The top player over the first 18 holes was 29-handicapper Isabella Condie. She had the round of her life to card a net score of 63.

The Greetham Valley junior B team are through to the final 16 of The Royal British Legion Golf Tournament having beaten Cleckheaton away.

The team of Joe Sargood, Wilby Toothill, Winston Childs and Cormac Calnan won 5 up (on accumulative scores) and they have reached the last 16 out of 158 teams nationwide.

The next round will be played at home against Nuneaton Golf Club.

Ellie Haughton meanwhile has been announced as junior county captain for 2018.

BURGHLEY PARK

History was made at Burghley Park last week as the men’s club championship and the net championship were both won by juniors.

Sixteen year-old Sanjay Nithiyalingam, now playing off a handicap of two, produced some superb golf to take the club championship title with rounds of 70 and 72 while 12-handicapper Keilin Harper had the best net totsal of 129 (66 and 63).

In the first round, Nithiyalingam had birdies on 8 and 11 wiping out bogeys on 1 and 18 and in the second round he knocked in three birdies in a row on 2, 3 and 4.

Nicky Plumtree (13 handicap) was crowned ladies club champion with rounds of 87 and 86. She finished 10 shots clear of runner-up Sue Churchill.

Janet Duff (23 handicap) took the best net prize with 70 and 77.

Results from around our local greens

PETERBOROUGH MILTON

Men

Midweek Stableford: Division One - 1 Neil Smith 41pts; 2 Joe Strickett 38pts; 3 Jacob Williams 37pts. Division Two - 1 David Fear 36pts; 2 Dave Wright 36pts; 3 Mike Walters 35pts. Division Three - 1 Morgan Cresswell 39pts; 2 Jim Pendreigh 35pts; 3 Hugo Laffey 35pts.

Captain’s Day Stableford: Division One - 1 Jason Willis hcp 39pts; 2 Ted Dunn 38pts; 3 Steven Jennings 37pts. Division Two - 1 Graham Beer 40pts; 2 Neil Thomas 38pts; 3 Nathan Firman 38pts. Division Three - 1 Hugo Laffey 40pts; 2 Sanjay Rajani 40pts; 3 Peter Horsted 38pts.

Seniors

Captain’s Day: 1 Graham Beer 38pts; 2 Bob Stout 38pts; 3 Brent Joyce 37pts. Nearest the pin winners - 2nd Tony Dyer, 9th John Miller, 11th John MacCallum, 16th George Garnish.

King’s Lynn 6.5, Milton 1.5 (Milton names only): Mike Williamson/Pete Glover lost 1 down; Jim Millar/Sut Panchi lost 1 down; Keith Benson/George Garnish halved; Steve Moule/Terry Locks lost 5&3; Tony Dyer/David Rager lost 6&5; Bob Wilkinson/Geoff Dyson lost 5&3; Denis Hand/Eddie Trevor won 1 up; Graham Beer/Mike Goodall lost 2&1.

ELTON FURZE

Seniors

Strokeplay: Division One - 1 Colin Bayliss 77-10=67, 2 Andy Anderson 79-8=71. Division Two - 1 John Buckley 92-12=71; 2 John Gooderson 91-17=74. Division Three - 1 Michael Mitchell 96-22=74; 2 Norman Meager 101-27=74.

Ladies

Elton Furze 2, Ramsey 2 (Elton Furze names first): Marilyn Smith/Jane Ross lost to Sheena Bentham/Hazel Suswain 3&2; Mary Martinsen/Helen Harris lost to Dawn Robinson/Mary Mills 2 down; Janet Elliott/June Fisher beat Liz Charlton/Christine Wishart 2 up; Janet Leitch/Jenny Walters beat Alice Bevens/Frances Clyde 4&2.

Stableford: 1 Jane Meredith 38pts; 2 Karin Henderson 30pts.

Men

Roll up Medal: 1 Babu Odedra 75-8=67; 2 Lee Blewett 77-6=71.

GREETHAM VALLEY

Juniors

Club Championship: 1 Joe Sargood 156; 2 Ellie Haughton 163; 3 Tom Haynes 166. Best net - 1 Joe Sargood 136; 2 Wilby Toothill 143; 3 Tom Haynes 146.

Men

Medal: 1 Luc Affleck 80-13=67; 2 Rama Nia 94-27=67; 3 Sam Humphrey 81-13=68.

Midweek Medal: 1 Stuart Knowles 84-18=66; 2 Graham Smith 75-6=69; 3 Luc Affleck 83-14=69.

Ladies

Medal: 1 Kay Ropson 81-7=74.

Seniors

Hodgkinson Trophy (3 club competition): 1 Paul Thurman 41 pts; 2 Radley Wardhaugh 39pts; 3 David Parry 34pts.

BURGHLEY PARK

Men

Club Championship: 1 Sanjay Nithiyalingam 70+72=142; 2 Keilin Harper 78+75=153; 3 Richard Vaughan 74+79=153; 4 Mark Yarham 77+77=154. Best net - 1 Keilin Harper 66+63=129; 2 Keith Duff 69+67=136; 3 Shean Smith 69+67=136.

Ladies

Club Championship: 1 Nicky Plumtree 87+86=173; 2 Sue Churchill 93+90=183; 3 Kay Hircock 90+96 186. Best net - 1 Janet Duff 70+77=147; 2 Nicky Plumtree 74+73=147; 3 Sue Churchill 77+74=151.

NENE PARK

Ladies

Peggy Hopkins Trophy (9 hole Comp for h’caps 30-36): 1 Joyce Critchley 16pts; 2 Penny Ibbotson 16pts; 3 Barbara Caville 16pts.

Men

Men’s Open: Division One - 1 Allan Young net 69; 2 James Middleton net 70; 3 Bernie Clarke net 72. Division Two - 1 Stephen Marot net 69; 2 Jonathon Sturgeon net 70; 3 Neil Thomas net 70. Division Three - 1 David Hiles net 70; 2 Simon Brown net 70; 3 Charlie Flintoft net 71.

9 Hole Evening Summer League: 1 Anthony Rozario net 34; 2 Steve Watson net 34; 3 David Riley net 35.