Eire’s John Moran defied decidedly damp circumstances at West Sussex Golf Membership to seal victory within the English U14 Championship for the Reid Trophy after an unbelievable five-way play-off.
Moran, Louis Le Sager, Ollie McEvoy, Casper van Rensburg and Fraser Walters all got here in on +4 total, because the rain got here down on a blustery closing day, which means the 5 gamers would go to a sudden dying play-off.
Beginning on the par-5 1st gap, it was McEvoy’s method which seemed in pole place, however the Irish participant three-putted whereas the others managed to make birdie, leaving simply 4 gamers vying for the title.
DRAMA AT WEST SUSSEX
The quartet then parred the par-four 4th gap, with Van Rensburg and Walters having one of the best possibilities to nick it with birdie putts. Nonetheless, it was Van Rensburg (Rolls of Monmouth) and Walters (Craigielaw) who departed on the par-4 18th, as Van Rensburg hit the bunker along with his tee shot and Walters was unable to get up-and-down for par.
The Wales golfer got here agonisingly near a terrific par restoration but it surely left Moran and Le Sager to battle it out again on the first gap once more, for what was the fourth play-off gap.
Le Sager was near the tough from his tee shot earlier than laying up, whereas Moran strayed proper of the inexperienced along with his method after which left his chip simply shy.
The Frenchman put in a terrific method to 10 ft and seemed in pole place for the birdie putt and the win, however up stepped Moran to roll in a shocking 25-foot putt for birdie, and Le Sager noticed his effort slide by to finish an enthralling contest.
WEATHER TROUBLE
Moran mentioned: “It was intense, however I used to be simply focusing alone golf. I felt like I’d been giving myself actually good alternatives all day and I simply needed to anticipate the putts to drop and thankfully on the final it did. Something might’ve occurred within the climate.
I’ve performed sufficient golf to know that something can actually occur, and I do know Louis is a improbable putter, so I knew I needed to give it a go and see what occurs. All I might do was focus alone recreation and fortuitously it went in.
“It’s nice to be topped champion. It’s the primary competitors I’ve received so it’s a pleasure for this to be the primary one. It’s nice to be within the historical past books with all the nice names who’ve received the Reid Trophy and it’s my final under-14 occasion so to return out on prime is nice.
West Sussex was bathed in sunshine on Tuesday for the primary spherical of the match, nonetheless the climate worsened all through the week, with Le Sager main heading into Thursday’s closing spherical.
Regardless of an early birdie, a triple-bogey on the par-3 sixth opened the door for the remainder of the sector, and a 1-under back-nine for Walters was sufficient to see him take a share of the clubhouse lead, alongside McEvoy and Moran who each shot closing rounds of +1 on the ultimate day.
TOUGH FINISH
Within the penultimate pairing of the day, Van Rensburg performed some good golf however he hit sand from his tee shot on the 18th and missed a brief putt, ending with a double-bogey when a bogey would have received him the competitors outright.
Then, within the closing group, Le Sager battled again with birdies on 14 and 16 and regardless of hitting sand along with his tee shot on 18 after which pulling one left into the tough, he got here agonisingly near profitable the competitors with a par, however his bogey compelled a five-man play-off, with one participant from every of the final 5 pairings heading for additional holes.
The spherical of the match got here from Spain’s Jorge de la Riva on the ultimate day as his four-under 64 on the par-68 course included six birdies to propel him up the leaderboard into seventh place, ending simply two photographs off the leaders.
Try the ultimate leaderboard right here.
