Hampshire Win Back To Back Finals

STONEHAM'S two-time Hampshire Junior Champion James Freeman proved to be the hero of the hour claiming the crucial point to get Hampshire over the line in the defence of their South East League crown.

Having been 3-1 down at lunch after the morning foursomes, Essex made a fist of the singles picking up two early wins against Jersey's Jo Hacker and George Saunders, the former West of England Amateur Champion, who made his name as a Meon Valley junior.

With Hampshire needing just a half from the three remaining three matches left out on the course, and Essex leading in two of them, captain Toby Burden's men knew the job had still not been done.

Freeman had been two-up after 11 against Ross Dee before losing three out of four holes in a row.

The University of Birmingham PGA graduate was told by county secretary Richard Arnold that a half would secure the trophy as he stood on the 18th tee, one-down.

And he completed his mission with a par good enough to earn Hampshire the Daily Telegraph Salver for the 11th time since 1988 - having failed to reach the final in the first 24 years of the competition's history. 

Hampshire had given themselves the best possible start to their final against Essex, winning three of the four foursomes matches.

Captain Toby Burden, from Hayling GC, had spoken about the fact that his squad were so unified in their approach and goals, bolstered by the fact that they knew each other's games so well, a key factor in foursomes. 

He had sent out reigning county Order of Merit champion Robert Wheeler, who won the Hampshire Open last month, just three days after finishing runner-up in the Courage Trophy, to play with Freeman, the 2022 Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Channel Islands Amateur Champion 

Wheeler and his partner had been three-up at the turn, making three birdies between them. But they lost the ninth as Essex's Baille Curran, fresh from last week's very narrow English County Finals win, and Ross Dee rolled in a 40-footer on the 11th.

They then made birdies at the 15th and 17th to go one-up with one to play. With Hampshire looking good for a birdie from 15 feet on the last, they then rolled in a 35-footer for a three of their own to put Essex's only point on the board before lunch - and prevent a whitewash.

Burden and Hacker beat Essex veteran Andy May, who like Dee played in the 2012 defeat by 71/2-41/2 when England's youngest-every amateur champion Harry Ellis was in the team that won at Middlesex's Ashford Manor.

That first point from match two was quickly followed by Rowland's Castle's Tom Robson - playing with Brokenhurst Manor's Martin Young, playing in his 10th final since 1999, who won 5&4 against Charlie Croker and Toby Peters.

Former England U16 cap George Saunders, from Liphook GC, teamed up with Stoneham's Ryan Henley, playing in his seventh final since 2000, to beat Essex's Ben Humphrey and Will Dunn 3&2.

Essex had led 31/2-½ when they beat Hampshire in 2018, but only by the narrowest margins so Burden's teamtalk at lunch was aimed at preventing complacency and the dangers of a fightback by the English champions.

Indeed, Hacker and Saunders were both beaten on the 17th, before Wheeler, Robson and Henley converted some healthy blue colour on the leaderboard into confirmed full points to make it 5-3.

Robson, who had been recalled having played in the 10-2 victory over Sussex in the New Forest in June, but then missed the draw with Surrey at Hindhead in August, kept up his remarkable scoring average, holing a 50-footer to complete a 3&2 win over McQueen.

The director of golf at Basingstoke GC has dropped just half a point in his three final appearances, having missed the 2009 one as county champion because he had just begun a four-year golf scholarship in the States, playing for Jacksonville State, and again three years later.

With Young having lost only one of his eight previous singles matches in the final, wisely put out last in case of any dramatic Essex fightback, Hampshire were in good hands while Burden and Young were left out on the course.

But luckily the 2023 winners had enough in the tank to complete a three-point winning margin, while Essex could point to the fact that five of their English Championship winning team had missed the final.

Two were back at college in the States, while Harley Smith, the reigning English Amateur Champion, was unavailable along with former English Amateur Champion Zach Chegwidden, who turned pro. England U16 cap Charlie Rushbridge was playing against Ireland. 

Smith was only the second player to win the McGregory (U16) and Carris (U18) English junior titles after Justin Rose, who played in the 1996 final between Hampshire and Essex, and has already won on the Clutch Pro Tour as an amateur.

Hampshire were without their two US college players - England and Great Britain and Ireland international Charlie Forster, from Basingstoke GC, and Stoneham's Joe Buenfeld, who both played in the team that finished runners-up to Essex in the South East Qualifier, in July, at Brighton's Devil's Dyke GC.

Full results can be found HERE. 

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