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CAPTAIN Toby Burden led a rearguard action to save Hampshire from their first league defeat in three years as he secured the half that gave his side a 6-6 draw in their curtain-raiser against Kent, at Brokenhurst Manor.

The former English Champion of Champions, from Hayling GC, was one-down with three to play against former England junior Jacob Kelso.

The Kent man missed a putt from around eight feet for a birdie on the last which would have ended Hampshire’s run of six undefeated games in a row, since they lost to Surrey at the end of the 2022 season.
 

Burden then holed from six feet having been left with a treacherous up-and-down from left of the green, after almost driving it pin high on the 333-yard 18th.

Minutes earlier, he had been left doubled over his putter after watching his 18-footer for par stop in the jaws of the hole. From above the hole, it looked almost impossible to leave the ball short, having picked the perfect line – but gravity had other ideas.

Kelso had already got out of jail on the penultimate hole, having been forced to take a drop from the ditch. He hit a great recovery around the corner on the 17th before getting up-and-down from 40 feet from the front of the sloping green.

With Rob Wheeler going down the last all-square having lost his ball on the 17th, Burden had got back to all-square with a birdie on the par-five 16th.

Burden had been a much happier figure after the morning foursomes as Hampshire enjoyed a 3-1 lead at lunch.

Having agonised over naming his line-up in the build-up to the game – with Liphook’s Hampshire Salver winner George Saunders having qualified for the Brabazon Trophy at Surrey’s Hankley Common – his picks pulled off the game plan for the alternate-shot format.
 

The only surprise was that Brokenhurst’s Martin Young –, a veteran of some 100 county matches since the mid-90s – was beaten 7&6 playing alongside Rowlands Castle’s Tom Robson.

They were up against Kent county champion Lee Carew and Kelso, who posted the first point on the board for the visitors.

Stoneham’s Joe Buenfeld, who grew up playing in the New Forest at Bramshaw, teamed up with debutant Sam De’ath, from North Hants, to beat Oliver Lewis-Perkins and Conor Byers 3&1 in the top match.

North Hants’ Hampshire Order of Merit winner Robert Wheeler, partnered Test Valley’s Stuart Archibald in their 5&3 win against Kent’s Tommy Lamb and Lucas Dennison.

Burden, playing with Liphook’s Darren Walkley, were not hanging around either, shaking hands with Danny Jones and last year’s McEvoy Trophy winner Jake Potter after winning the 13th to go seven-up.

Buenfeld, who completed his four-year golf scholarship at Texas’ University of the Incarnate Word, earlier this month, went off first – but found himself two-down after five.

He won three holes in a row from sixth, but a par at the 12th was enough for Lewis-Perkins to draw level, only for the former European Junior Open winner to make a birdie at the 13th to edge back in front.

The Kent man was all-square as Buenfeld’s bogey five at the 14th left the former Hartpury College ace trailing. He could only par the long 16th as a birdie put Lewis-Perkins two-up with two-to-play.

Robson, who lost the 2015 Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Channel Islands Amateur Championship final to Walkley, at Brokenhurst, was beaten 6&5 by Byers in the fourth match.

That left Buenfeld needing a three at the 17th to take the match down the last, but having made it, he could only watch in horror as his drive on 18 ended up out-of-bounds, meaning a Kent birdie had levelled the match at 3-3.

De’ath, who made one first-team appearance in 2018 while on a scholarship at Florida’s Webber University, continued the good form he showed at Blackmoor, in last month’s top three finish in the Hampshire Salver.

The former EuroPro Tour player beat Carew 3&1. Meanwhile Young was determined to get a point and made two birdies on the front nine, after losing the first to a three.

Some scrappy golf from Lamb left the three-time county champion five-up at the turn. The lead was extended to six on the 11th, and not even a mistake at the short 12th could prevent the inevitable handshake on the 14th as Hampshire led 5-4.

But it was Kent who were in charge lower down the order – leading all three matches going down the back nine.

Archibald – a three-time EuroPro winner before returning to the amateur ranks in 2020 – won the 10th with a three for par to get back to all-square, but lost the 11th and 12th.

He hit back with a birdie three at the 14th, but a birdie from Potter at the next restored his two-hole advantage. And even though a par was enough to claim the 17th, Archibald could only par the last to lose by one.

In the anchor match, Walkley lost three holes in a row from the 12th to go four-down and a par at the 15th meant he had lost 4&3.

The match was tied at 51/2-51/2 with just Toby and Kelso left out on the course, but the Hampshire captain was able to cope with the burden of salvaging a draw by halving his game.

With just three matches a piece in the South Division after Dorset’s switch to the Channel League three years ago, Hampshire will need two victories against Sussex and Surrey.

Hampshire then need Surrey to beat Kent, and/or they win more game points in their three matches, should any other county also win two.

A third South Division title in a row would match Hampshire’s achievement in 2002, the last time a county won three Daily Telegraph Salvers in a row.

Burden’s men make the short journey to Cowdray Park on June 22, before the captain’s home club host the match with Surrey, on August 3.

Toby should be boosted by the fact that Basingstoke’s Walker Cup prospect Charlie Forster will be back in the UK after appearing in next week’s Arnold Palmer Cup.

The final league game falls a week before the US Amateur Championship at San Fransico’s Olympic Club (August 11-17), which the Great Britain and Ireland international is likely to play.

The Seniors Championships took place at the beautifully presented Brokenhurst Manor Golf Club in the New Forest on the 20th and 21st of May. The course was firm but fair, providing a great test for a full field of competitors. Richard Elmes led the way after day one with a composed level-par round, closely followed by clubmates and friendly rivals Alan Mew and Andy Bow.

In the Nett Trophy, Elmes was also among the front-runners alongside Adam Bushell and local favourite Idris Vernall heading into the second round.

Overnight rain softened the course slightly for day two, creating more scoring opportunities. Despite the more receptive conditions, only a few players managed to improve on their opening rounds, with Brokenhurst standing up well to the challenge.

The championship concluded with an exciting finish. Alan Mew produced a steady level-par round to claim a four-shot victory, capitalising on a late stumble from Elmes, who carded a second-round 76.

Idris Vernall delighted the home crowd with a superb performance, bettering his opening nett 67 with an impressive 66—remarkably beating his age on both days!

A big thank you goes to the team at Brokenhurst Manor for providing an outstanding course, welcoming clubhouse, and first-class facilities for this year’s championship.

Final scores can be viewed by clicking HERE

Hampshire’s bid to win the Challenge League at the third attempt got off to a solid start as captain Harrison Park wheeled out two of the county’s big guns for their first home match of the South East League season against Sussex.

Rowlands Castle’s former Great Britain and Ireland International Darren Wright, and three-time county champion Ryan Henley, from Stoneham,  were called up for their Challenge League debuts as Sussex were beaten 7-5 at The Army GC.

Wright, is one of just 10 people who have won both the Carris and Brabazon Trophies at England’s Boys’ and Men’s Amateur Strokeplay Championships in their career, and last played regularly for the county’s first-team in 2021 when matches were restricted to just singles games because of COVID.
 

He still hits the ball a very long way, and while he may be restricted in the amount he practices – running his own property maintenance business – and the presence of the former EuroPro Tour winner was a big plus for the home side.

Henley has not played for the Colts since breaking into the first team some 25 years ago but was the unlucky one before lunch as Hampshire reeled off three victories out of four in the foursomes.

Ryan, who was beaten in the final at Blackmoor last summer defending the Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Channel Island Amateur crown he won at Hockley in 2023, lost on the last playing with Sherfield Oaks’ Tom Conquest against Sussex veteran Richard Leeves, partnered by James Lynch.

Wright enjoyed a more successful return to the squad having made his debut back in 2006, the year he won the Carris Trophy, also earning his call-up into the England Boys team for the Home Internationals.

He partnered Romsey’s Ben Cox in the second match out and hung on for a one-hole win against Sussex’s Drew Bailey and Mark Robertson.

Hampshire’s 2020 county champion Richard Harris was the third player with first-team experience called into Pake’s side, and the Hayling man teamed up with Corhampton’s Connor Babington, another to graduate from the Boys’ squad.

They beat former Sussex county champion and captain Steve Watts, playing with Will Gibb, also on the last, leaving Pake – playing with Stoneham team-mate Harrison Price – to win the 18th to wrap up their two-hole victory over Chris Parsons and Toby Graves.

Pake bravely sent out Conquest at the top of the afternoon singles order, and if there were any nerves, they did not stop him claiming his first half-a-point in Hampshire colours, by holding the vastly-more experienced Leeves.

With Hampshire needing just three wins from the other seven games, Henley’s 3&2 defeat against Gibb was quickly forgotten on a course where he had contested the 2011 final, when Martin Young claimed his first of three Sloane-Stanley Challenge Cups.

Wright, who played for Great Britain & Ireland in the 2010 St Andrews Trophy, cruised to a 4&3 victory over Bailey, the most promising youngster in the Sussex ranks. He never looked back after making an eagle at the sixth.

His maximum return was quickly followed by Cox’s second point of the day, after his 3&2 win over Robertson – a fine start on his Challenge League debut.

Cox had been called into the Challenge League team for the first time after his strong showing in last month’s West of England Amateur Championship, when he overcame a first round 81 with a sparkling last round 69, matching the lowest score of the day on his way to 13th place at Royal North Devon’s Westward Ho!

The race was on to claim the winning point over the Laffin links, and Price, who has completed his first year in the States on a NAIA golf scholarship at Tusculum University, in Tennessee, obliged with a 3&2 win over Parsons.

Harris – a regular in last season’s Hampshire team that reached the South East Challenge League Final for a second year in a row, held on for a 2&1 victory over Lynch to make 71/2-3/12 to the hosts.

Pake had left himself in the anchor role over the Aldershot heathland course, which can be tricky when very firm, after the recent long dry spell, but with the points already in the bag, the skipper lost the 17th to go down 3&1 against Graves.