South Africa’s Kyle McClatchie gave himself the perfect 20th birthday present when he won the Brabazon Trophy after a closely fought final round at Woodhall Spa.
He finished on 10 under par, after getting up and down from a bunker to birdie the last hole and hang on to his slender one-shot lead.
Chasing him to the finish line were the England pair of Jack Singh Brar and Jake Burnage, together with Scotland’s Jamie Stewart, who hurtled up the leaderboard with a closing 68. They shared second place on nine under.
McClatchie becomes the first South African to win the English men’s amateur open stroke play title since Charl Schwartzel in 2002.
“This is just amazing, I can’t believe it’s actually happened,” said McClatchie. “I’ve been working my whole life for something like this, and it has finally paid off.”
McClatchie, from Serengeti Golf Club, set off on Sunday’s final round on eight under, and tied for the lead with Singh Brar (Remedy Oak) and Burnage (Saunton), and with a four-shot cushion over the rest of the field. Over the opening holes they jostled for the lead, and the advantage passed from player to player as they picked up or dropped shots. But McClatchie opened up a two-shot lead with a birdie on the 12th, and from then on there was no budging him as he worked his way to a score of two-under 71.
Singh Brar reduced the gap to one shot with his own birdie on 12, but try as he might, he couldn’t hole the necessary putts to move ahead. He needed an eagle on the last to tie but, again, the putt refused to drop, and he settled for a closing 72. “I feel robbed,” he said afterwards. “I hit some good shots in, but I didn’t hole anything. But it’s a good result, and I’d have taken it at the start of the week.”
Burnage appeared to drop out of contention when he slipped to six under after 13 holes, but he kept pressing and was rewarded with three closing birdies to return 72, and join the tie for second place. He was partnered with Singh Brar and said: “We both played all right, and we spurred each other along, but we didn’t hole the putts. It’s sore for now, but second in the Brabazon isn’t that bad, is it?”
Meanwhile, Stewart was charging up the leaderboard. He started the day on four over. and looked to be out of it after two bogeys in the first three holes. But he played the rest of the round in seven under, with a particularly impressive birdie on 18. His second shot finished on a downhill bunker slope but he deftly flipped the ball to within two feet of the hole.
He played the last 36 holes in 11 under par and said: “It really kicked off over the last two rounds, and I almost got into a tie, but I couldn’t have done any more and, fair play to Kyle, he played great and was a deserving winner.”