Warwickshire Golf
CLASS ACT FROM CAVE
(more photos and link below)
The 2019 Warwickshire Under 18 and Under 16 Boys Championship was played at Copt Heath on 5thAugust with great weather and perfect course conditions.
It’s fair to say that the opening holes at Copt Heath is not an easy start, with 2 long par 4’s followed by a tricky par 3, then the fiddly 4th, the short but deceiving par 3 5thand then an especially tight tee shot on the 6th. This stretch is then following by some respite to close out the remaining holes of the front 9. So, with this in mind it would be no surprise that no one came out of the blocks firing with birdies.
The statistics also confirmed this by the opening 4 holes in order being the 5th, 2nd, 4thand 9thhardest in round one.
There were however a few players able to hold on to their scores through these holes with only two players surviving on level par, Charlie Lamb (Coventry Hearsall) and Seb Cave (The Belfry).
Even though Charlie bogeyed the short par 3 5th, he then took full advantage of the remaining front nine by making a great birdie on the stroke index one 6thhole followed by two more to make the turn in 2 under par. For the back nine Charlie recorded 2 bogeys and a birdie to return a very nice round of 1 under par to take the first-round lead.
However, not far behind was Seb Cave. As many people have said before playing good golf can sometimes be thought of as boring. This is far from a derogatory term, but more used to try and explain how easy some people make the game look and don’t tend to include many ups and downs that golf throws our way. After hitting the regulation fairway and regulation greens it can produce a lot of regulation pars … boring right? – yawn. Sebs round was no different with a solitary bogey on the stroke index 1 6thhole followed by a bounce back birdie on the next hole.
A further shot back was fellow Belfry member Adam Perks on 72 (+1), then Rhys Wallace (Handsworth) and Niall Collins from nearby Robin Hood Golf Club on 73 (+2). A further two shots back we had 3 more players within 5 of the lead on 75 (+4), Rocco Luca (Coventry), Jack Drury (Stratford on Avon) and Alex Spencer (Ladbrook Park).
Just as remarkable was that from the leading 4, three of these players were eligible for both the Under 18 and U16 Championship and Seb is still eligible for the Under 16 category in 2020!
The second round got underway in the same way as the first with many players dropping shots through the tough start. Two players however, fought back more than most. Rhys Wallace (Handsworth) had already had his fair share of birdies in round one, but added another 3 in the afternoon to tally up 8 birdies for the day and return a 36 hole total of 3 over par to find himself in runner-up position for the Boys Championship.
Kenilworth Golf Clubs, Chanon James also returned a very nice second round, holding on to a level par score containing 3 birides all the way through to the 18thhole where an unfortunate 3 putt finished his round on 1 over par. A great performance from Chanon who is still only 14 years old, taking the runner-up position in the Under 16 Championship and third place overall.
Unfortunately, our first round leader Charlie Lamb couldn’t quite hold on, but survived the first 9 in the afternoon on just 1 over par, but then struggled on the final 5 holes to return a 79 (+8) which still left him in a very credible 3rdplace over all and tied 2ndin the Under 16 Championship (losing the bronze medal on countback).
Seb Caves afternoon round was a little more exciting that his morning round after a bogey on the 5th he clawed his way back to 1 under par total after 9 holes. Then over the next 9 holes Seb only managed one par on the tough stroke index 12th hole and with returning 3 bogies in the first 4 holes of the back nine many players would have collapsed under the pressure of the situation. Not Seb.
Seb quickly bounced back on the 14th and 15th with consecutive birdies only to make a bogey on the dogleg 16th to bring him back to a 1 over total. But then preceded to follow this up with another two birdies on the closing 2 holes to return 1 under for the round and the Championship.
To be able to compose yourself under these circumstances, to steady the ship, to keep a level head whilst in contention over the final 9 holes, when boring golf has now become a little too exciting, is the mark of a Champion in the making. A class act.
With this score Seb Cave wins the Boys Under 18 and Under 16 Championship by 4 shots. He qualifies for the Midland Junior Champion of Champions event being held at Kedleston Park and the English Junior Champion of Champions event being held at Frilford Heath. Plus… over the next 3 years he gets to have another 3 attempts at winning back the trophy!
Aswell as our Under 18 and Under 16 Championship winners, we had our Under 14 voucher winner Lennon O'Neil-Knibbs taking top spot, and Charlie Lamb winning some golf balls with his over all Nett score.
Interestingly, 60% of the players in this event were Under 16, with our youngest competitor being Freddy Montgomery (Moor Hall) at only 10 years old! With so many players performing so well at such a young age, I have a feeling over the next few years we are going to see something rather special at the Boys Championships!
Our big thanks must go to everyone at Copt Heath for making the day go so successfully and we greatly appreciate your continued support.
The top 8 in this event also qualify for the Boys Matchplay Championship which will take place at Copt Heath on 19thand 22ndAugust, the draw when made will be on the Boys Matchplay page.
Matt Nixon
FOR FULL SCORES PLEASE CLICK HERE
Photo Credit below Steve Jackson www.thesportsjournalist.com
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