Kent teenager Jacob Kelso won a four-hole play-off to capture the weather-hit English Boys’ County Champion of Champions tournament at Woodhall Spa.
The tournament was reduced to 18 holes after torrential rain flooded the greens on the Hotchkin course, leaving Kelso and Staffordshire’s Ollie Read tied on three under par.
They returned to the course after the rain delay for the sudden-death shootout, up and down the 1st and 18th – and for three holes there was nothing to separate them. But on the second visit to the 18th Kelso’s par proved good enough to win the hole after Read’s ball plugged in the bank of a fairway bunker,
The 16 year old from Kings Hill Golf Club, said: “This means a lot. It’s my third win of the season, and the biggest of my career so far – and in an England event. In the conditions, it was one of my best rounds of the year. I didn’t know what to expect in the playoff, so I stuck to my game plan of hitting fairways and greens.”
It was a policy that stood him in good stead in regulation play. He was out in the first group, enjoyed the good omen of having the No.1 player number, and was four under after 10 holes. He dropped a couple of shots at the start of the back nine, but had another birdie on 15, setting the target for the rest of the field with his 70.
Yorkshire’s Alex Fitzpatrick – brother of Ryder Cup player Matt – and Worcestershire’s Joe Price challenged strongly with scores of 71 to finish tied third, while Hampshire’s Jack Warrren (Stoneham) took outright fourth with a one-under-par 72.