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Jordan Sundborg, Rick Randall (Captain, Brokenhurst Manor Golf Club) and Martin Young.

Andrew Griffin reports.........

ONLY five players have completed the Solent Slam in the same weekend over the past 26 years – but Martin Young had the chance to become the first to do it twice on Sunday.

And playing the Mike Smith Memorial Trophy on his home course at Brokenhurst Manor, the 49-year-old arrived on the 18th tee with a one-hole advantage.

But playing partner Jordan Sundborg – Shanklin & Sandown’s reigning European Universities Champion – had birdied the par five 16th – after eagling the short 14th with a two – and still had the honour.

Having led the county championship in qualifying four years ago and taken six on the same hole, he drove the green on the 334-yard 18th, forcing Young to take aim and not lay up.

The three-time Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Channel Islands Amateur Champion’s drive crucially went out of bounds.

And when he could not find the green with his fourth shot, Sundborg – who became the first player from the Isle of Wight to win the Sloane Stanley Challenge Trophy at the 2017 county championships in Jersey – was sitting pretty.

Young’s treble bogey seven meant Sundborg could afford to three-putt and still have a shot in hand to claim the trophy donated in memory of one of the county – and country’s – most talented teenagers.

Mike Smith was cruelly killed in a car accident two years after he won the 1989 Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Channel Islands Amateur Championship – at Shanklin & Sandown.

Young was everyone’s favourite to complete a second Solent Slam in one weekend – after his three victories in 2005, a feat matched a year ago by Rowlands Castle’s Tom Robson – and claim his sixth Mike Smith Memorial in its 29-year history.

But Sundborg had other ideas, even though he was three shots behind surprise lunchtime leader Lewis Scott, from Lee-on-the-Solent.

The latter produced an excellent 69 to top the leaderboard on one-under.

After six bogeys and four birdies in an opening two-over par 72, Sundborg looked to have taken himself out of the tournament with a double bogey seven at the par five second.

But the winner of the 2019 British Universities and Colleges’ Order of Merit produced some stellar golf shooting five-under for his last 11 holes, as he chased down Young, who was a shot ahead of him at lunch.

Having got to the turn level after three birdies, a bogey and a double, Sundborg made two at the 12th

But a bogey at the 13 looked likely to be unlucky as he trailed Young by three shots after the host club ace had made two birdies on the front nine, only to drop two sbots around the turn.

The short 14th proved the turning point as Jordan drove the green of the 296-yard hole, and sunk his 30-foot putt for a two – to wipe out Young’s bounce-back birdies at 11 and 12, as he could only make four.

Sundborg applied the pressure with birdies at the driveable 15th and the par five 16th, but a three on the short hole had left Young one clear with three to play.

And it was ironic that the 18th – where Sundborg took six in the 2015 county championship when leading the strokeplay qualifier – that gave the 2017 Solent Salver winner the trophy to complete his own slam over four seasons.

He was the first Isle of Wight player to win the Stoneham Trophy in 2016 and the Solent Salver a year later.

Young’s seven and that three-shot swing on the last may have stung, but his one-over total still left him eight shots clear of his nearest challengers in the Solent Salver, which was introduced in 1994.

The former English Mid-Amateur Champion took the 72-hole prize for a fifth time in the last 20 years since his first win back in 2000 – and his first since 2013 – with a six-under total.

Scott, who eagled the 14th and picked up a birdie at the 16th, playing two groups ahead finished three shots back on two-over, after five bogeys and a double in eight holes earlier in his round.

He was edged out of third by an excellent 68 from Stoneham’s Ryan Henley – one of four players to have won the Mike Smith twice, along with former England Amateur Champions Harry Ellis and Kevin Weeks.

Scott was tied on two-over with Surrey’s David Corben in the Solent Salver.

SCOREBOARD - Stoneham Trophy scores.

SCOREBOARD - Mike Smith Memorial scores.

Please click the link to see 1st Round start times for Courage & Mid-Amateur Championship at Blackmoor on Sunday 25th August.

1st Round Start Times.

2nd Round will be + 5 hours and 15 minutes.

Click here for Competitors Information.

Practice Rounds (£30.00) by prior arrangement with the Pro Shop.

David Wheeler - County Secretary

Aman Uddin won the 2019 Boys County Championship at Barton-on-Sea Golf Club on Friday 9th August.

The Championship was reduced to 18 holes after strong winds and rain showers caused play to be abandoned for the day.

Click here for the scores from Barton-on-Sea.

Alan Drayton (President, Hampshire Golf) with Aman Uddin and Campbell Laird. Also pictured Charlie Forster with the Weddell Trophy. 

Andrew Griffin reports from Barton-on-Sea....

AMAN Uddin erased the heartache of losing last year’s Hampshire Junior Championship in a play-off by storming to victory at windswept Barton-on-Sea GC.

Having lost out against James Freeman, at Alresford 12 months ago despite a four-under par second round, his round of 73 gave the Itchen College student from Fareham, the prestigious trophy as he beat the defending champion from Stoneham by a shot.

And he now has his name alongside the likes of Justin Rose, Harry Ellis and Jack Singh-Brar, who all won the trophy and went on to represent Great Britain and Ireland in the Walker Cup against the USA.

The 18-year-old, who is a member at Lee-on-the-Solent GC, is off to Dixie University, close to Las Vegas in September.

Uddin gambled on going for broke as the weather closed in on the New Forest seaside course last Friday, as the U18 championship was eventually reduced to 18 holes instead of 36.

With the nine holes of the Needles course exposed to the Soelnt winds, Uddin made an inauspicious start on the more sheltered Becton Course, with the nine holes on the Forest side of the layout.

But the wind was still hitting 30mph as the plus-one handicapper teed off, as he got off to the worst possible start with two bogey fives.

Uddin realised he needed to act fast and produced a remarkable run from the sixth hole – picking up successive birdies at the back-to-back par fives.

The first was into the wind and saw his five-iron from 190 yards go over the pin to set up a 25-foot eagle, which came up a foot short for a tap in.

At the next, his five-iron was again arrowed at the flag, resting 25 feet again beyond the hole, which he lagged up close for another four.

A wedge to six feet set up birdie number three at the eighth but things got even better as he took advantage of the wind on the 369-yard ninth.

His drive came to rest 30 feet from the pin and he rolled his putt across the tier from right to left and into the cup for magnificent eagle two.

But as he moved out on to the Needles course, the stormy waters of the western Solent, were a warning that conditions were going to get steadily worse with the wind speed  increasing.

A double bogey six at the 10th was proof if needed, as his bold play to drive the green resulted in a lost ball.

And three more bogeys in three holes threatened to undo all Aman’s good work as the wind twice cost him shots as he could not reach the green in three at the 13th despite a big drive.

He then made a biride on the par five 15th, two putting from 15 feet after finding the green again in two.

That fourth birdie of the round got him to within a shot of par but the final par five – the 513-yard 17th – would not yield a fourth four of the day.

As the organisers waited at lunch, hoping to catch a break in the weather, the heavens opened and the decision was taken to reduce the championship to one round – for the first time since it was switched from its April date to try to ensure better playing conditions for the cream of the county crop.

Shanklin & Sandown’s Campbell Laird, who plays off eight, carded a nett 71 to win the Willard Trophy for the best handicap score, as well as the John Rush Trophy for the best U18 nett total.

The Isle of Wight teenager made five birdies on his handicap in his round of 79.

That was one better than North Hants’ Charlie Forster, who picked up the Hampshire U16 title, as well as third place in the Junior Championship, after carding a 74, which lost out to Freeman on countback.

Two-handicapper Forster shot a round of 74 gross, which included three birdies in a row from the fifth, and five bogeys on the back nine, as the winds whipped across the Needles course.

Bramshaw’s Joe Buenfeld, who also plays off two, was third in the handicap prizes with a nett 73 and fourth overall.

Corhampton’s Jamie Markwick – last year’s South East Junior Champion – could not add the Hampshire title in his final year as a junior, finishing fifth with a 76.

Junior Championship at Barton-on-Sea GC, on Friday 9th August.

COMPETITORS UPDATE.....The weather forecast has improved with rain clearing by 08.00am.

The Championship will therefore go ahead as planned.

Please click here for 1st Round start time.

There will be a four and a half hour gap between start times for the 1st and 2nd round.

Please read the Competitors Instructions.

Please return the Consent Form to David Wheeler when you arrive at the Golf Club.

Practice rounds (£20.00) should be booked with the Professionals Shop.

David Wheeler

County Secretary