BURNHAM ON SEA, Somerset, England (Aug. 11, 2011) -- Leading qualifier, Kenny Subregis, is through to the third round of the 85th Boys Amateur Championship at Burnham & Berrow but the 15-year-old French international had to battle all the way before defeating England’s Toby Tree on the 19th hole in their tense second round encounter.
Subregis now goes on to play Boston’s Jordan Wrisdale in a last 32 which will comprise 11 Englishmen, six Germans, three Irishmen, two golfers from France, Spain, Italy and Denmark, and one apiece from Scotland, Poland, Belgium and Denmark.
The match between Subregis, winner of the recent European Young Masters tournament in Hungary, and English international Tree, from Worthing, always had the makings of a closely-contested encounter and so it proved on a day when the Somerset coast was battered by strong winds and intermittent showers.
Subregis won the first two holes with pars but the 17-year-old Englishman pulled level after birdies on both the 376-yard par-4 third and the 511-yard par-5 fourth. The Frenchman regained the initiative when he won both the fifth and sixth in somewhat scrappy fashion and he was still two up when he three-putted from six feet on the 192-yard 13th to let his English rival back into the game.
Thereafter, it turned into a classic match play encounter in which Tree briefly held the initiative after winning both the 14th and the 17th before the Frenchman levelled things up with a 35-foot birdie putt from the back of the 18th green. On the first extra hole Subregis hit his approach into 10-feet and then only had to watch as Tree failed to get-up-and-down from 10-yards short of the green.
“It was a tough game,” admitted the Frenchman, who fought through to the third round of the recent Amateur Championship at Hillside before losing to Englishman, Andy Sullivan. “I don’t think either of us played as well as we can. I’m just happy to get through.”
Subregis was later joined in the last 32 by compatriot Romain Langasque, who defeated Chevin’s Cameron Shaw by 2 holes. However, the day really belonged to the strong German contingent, who won all three of their first round matches and then six out of nine of their games in the afternoon.
The first to progress was Hurly Long who defeated Oxley Park’s Robert Burlison by 2&1 to earn a second round match against Samuel Edwards from Bigbury. The impressive Nicholas Inderthal defeated Delon Hau from the Vale Resort by 5&4 to set up a second round tie with Jimmy Mullen from North Devon, while Dominic Foos beat Spain’s Javier Sainz by 4&2 and went on to play Callum Mackay from Burhill.
In the second round, Jeremy Paul and Steffan Harm both kept the run going with victories over Sweden’s Robin Jonsson and England’s Jonathan Grey before 2011 runner-up, Maximilian Rottluff made it eight out of eight on the day by winning 3&2 against Italy’s Federico Zucchetti to set up a third round encounter against another Italian, Domineco Geminiani. Thereafter, Maximilian Mehles also won before the Germans suffered their first loss of the day when Nicolai Von Dellingshausen was defeated 5&3 by England’s Nathan Kimsey. After his morning’s exertions, Hurly Long also bowed out, losing 3&2 to Edwards, as did Dominic Foos, who succumbed 3&2 to Mackay, but Inderthal consolidated his reputation as one of the favourites, defeating Mullen by 3&2.
The home challenge going into the last 32 is headed by six English Internationals, Oliver Carr, Callum Shinkwin, Kimsey, Patrick Kelly, Max Orrin and Matthew Fitzpatrick, who were all part of the victorious English team at last week’s Boys Home Internationals at Royal St David’s Golf club in Wales.
Skinkwin, from Moor Park, who reached the semi-final of the recent English Amateur Championship at Woburn, was the first to win through, beating Scottish International Bradley Neil from Blairgowrie by two holes. Carr, who emerged with five and a half points out of six at Harlech, defeated Elland’s Nicholas Marsh by 5&4; Kimsey beat Von Dellingshausen by 5&3; Kelly secured a 1 hole victory over Austria’s Robin Goger; Orrin was too strong for Sweden’s Victor Tarnstrom; while Fitzpatrick prevailed against Frenchman, Victor Joffray.
The other Englishmen to make it through to the third round were Mackay, Wrisdale, Harrison Greenberry (Exeter), Samuel Edwards (Bigbury) and William Whiteoak (Bingley St Ives).
Three Irishmen, Keagan Cummings (Elm Park), John-Ross Galbraith (Whitehead) and Gary Hurley (West Waterford) qualified for the match play stage and all three made it into the third round. In the second round, Cummings beat Scot, Greig Marchbank, one of three players from Dumfries and County Golf Club who lost on the day, by 3&1. Galbraith defeated Spain’s Jon Rahm by 2&1, while Hurley overcame Victor Jaffrey from France by 3&2.
Grant Forrest, Craigielaw, who is about to start at the University of San Diego in a couple of week’s time, is the sole Scot left in the draw. He defeated Louis Birchall from Ingestre Park by 3&2.
“I played solidly without doing anything spectacular,” said the Scottish international. “I lost the first, won the second and was never behind after that. “It was tough there,” he added. “The conditions were tricky so it wasn’t easy to play good golf.”
View results for British Boys Amateur