Hampshire Golf Limited
Buenfeld’s relief as he finally gets hands on Sloane-Stanley
Report by Andrew Griffin, from the Hampshire Golf County Championship
JOE Buenfeld is a golfer that likes to let his clubs do the talking ever since he was crowned European Junior Open champion in the autumn of 2019.
But the Stoneham ace made the biggest statement of his young amateur career so far when the US college graduate – who has spent five years learning to play in Texas’ famous winds – brushed aside the challenge from the weather and the field at Shanklin & Sandown on Sunday.
After battling his way through two qualifying rounds and three rounds of matchplay, he shattered Charlie Preston’s hopes of becoming just the second Hartley Wintney member in the county championship’s 132-year history to be crowned champion.
Buenfeld overcame a nervy start by both players to edge ahead after the turn and as Preston struggled to hit the heights of his last 16 round when he knocked out Hampshire Order of Merit winner Robert Wheeler, from North Hants.
Joe, who spent his junior years playing at Bramshaw, applied the pressure and choked off any resistance from his rival, sealing victory on the 16th with a birdie four to win 3&2.
It meant he became the 12th different Stoneham player to land the Sloane-Stanley Challenge Cup since Ernest James became the first back in 1959, sparking a run of 11 wins in 18 years, thanks to David Harrison’s six victories, which is still a record.
Twenty-two-year-old Joe has been knocking on the door of late with two second places in The Berkshire and Lagonda Trophies in May – two of England’s biggest 72-hole strokeplay tournaments.
Joe, who stayed on for a fifth year at the University of the Incarnate Word after his early time in Texas was disrupted by COVID, which forced the loss of a year’s golf at NCAA Division One level, was arguable the favourite going into the weekend, with a number of fellow Hampshire first-team players opting not to make the journey across the Solent.
Plenty of Hampshire’s top players in recent years have failed to land the Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Channel Islands Amateur Championship – including all four Walker Cup players who came through the county’s junior ranks Justin Rose, Harry Ellis, Scott Gregory, Jack Singh-Brar and fellow Great Britain and Ireland internationals Neil Raymond and Darren Wright.
That clearly was weighing on Buenfeld’s mind as he walked in over the last two holes, having completed his mission.
With an eye to maybe turning pro if he has a successful season, Joe said: “This may or may not be the last year I get to play in the county championship.
“It might have been my last chance to win it. There are some big names in Hampshire Golf who are not on that trophy,” said Joe, who qualified in fifth spot after rounds of 73 and 71 in Friday’s strong winds.
Joe, who was crowned European Junior Open winner in 2019, was even able to joke during his presentation speech that the county’s golf writers would no longer have to refer to him as the 2022 losing finalist.
That defeat by close friend James Freeman three years ago, is widely regarded as the best final certainly in the 21st Century.
While Buenfeld, whose team won the British College and Schools Finals and the Association of UK College titles while at Hartpury College, could not repeat the fireworks of that first final appearance, he produced the clutch shots at the right time.
Even when Preston made a birdie two at the 11th before rolling in a 30-footer for par at the 12th, to avoid going a hole behind for a second time, Buenfeld made a birdie three at the 13th after Preston, from Hook, found the ferns off the tee.
After the 14th was halved in par, a four was enough for Joe, from Romsey, to win the 15th as Preston found a fairway bunker.
To stand any chance of emulating Hartley Wintney’s Stan Fox – the 1955 Brabazon Trophy winner who won the Sloane-Stanley in 1955 and 1956 – Preston almost certainly needed to make eagle at the reachable par-five 16th to have any chance of taking the match to the final two holes.
He was left doubled up in disbelief as his 20-foot putt grazed the hole. Buenfeld, who had narrowly missed the green with his approach, left his third inside four-feet as Preston shook hands on a 3&2 defeat after Joe stroked the ball home.
Buenfeld’s reaction was to gently shake both fists as he looked across to his watching parents and grandmother, witness to the biggest win of his career… so far.
“I have never been as nervous standing over a putt as short as that,” Buenfeld admitted. “Martin Young (who has won the championship three times), told me the final is not about playing your best golf.
“It’s just a battle to survive. So I played for the middle of the greens and tried to hit as many fairways as possible, and try to avoid any mistakes as I was feeling quite tired by the back nine.
“Charlie said it was the worst he had played over the three days, but it’s not about playing your best. You are just trying to win.”
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