Hampshire First Team come up short vs Surrey

SAM De’ath got the nod to fill the shoes of former North Hants junior Charlie Forster, who missed the Surrey showdown because he was travelling to the States for this week’s US Amateur – with his Walker Cup place to face the USA looking now like a formality.

But the former EuroPro Tour player could not stop Surrey from spoiling Hampshire’s hopes of a third South Division title in a row – and the chance to win the Daily Telegraph Salver for a third year in a row – for the first time in more than 20 years as they repeated their 2023 shock away win.

County captain Toby Burden had been keen to recruit Forster for the last of Hampshire’s three South Division matches, which clashed with Basingstoke GC member’s international commitments earlier in May and June.

But with county champion Joe Buenfeld reaching the last eight in the English Amateur Championship at Hoylake in the build-up to Sunday’s final fixture, and Forster taking a week off after helping Great Britain and Ireland beat Europe in the St Andrews Trophy, Burden had 10 players on standby for the eight-a-side contest.

As it was, Buenfeld was knocked out by eventual winner Henry Styles in Saturday’s quarter-final and made the dash down the M6 to join his team-mates at Hayling late on Saturday.

De’ath had been the man to miss out when Burden named his six-man team for the South East Qualifier last month, in Bedfordshire.

But this time the reserve was preferred to Hartley Witney’s Charlie Preston, who had crashed out of the qualifying stage of the English Amateur after a triple-bogey seven at Wallasey’s 17th in the second round – when on course to make the top 64.

De’ath – the former Miami-based US college golfer – was paired with Hampshire veteran Martin Young in the morning foursomes.

They found themselves up against Surrey skipper Max O’Hagan and Freddie Surgerry who raced into a three-hole lead after just five holes. Having won the sixth with a par, De’ath could only watch as Surrey’s eagle at the par-five seventh restored their lead to three.

But he and Young bounced back by winning the eighth – with a birdie – and a par was enough at the ninth before they won the driveable par-four 10th to get back to all-square.

Surrey surged ahead again, winning the 14th with a birdie four, and a par at the 15th, but neither Martin or Sam could find the birdies they needed on the next two holes to take the match down the 18th, and lost 2&1.

Worse followed as Surrey swept up all four points before lunch, with North Hants’ Rob Wheeler paired with recently-crowned English Mid-Amateur Champion Stuart Archibald, who were beaten by two on the 18th, having been two-down after six by Dave Corben and Alex Wells.

A birdie-four at the seventh gave the home pair hope, but a bogey at the long 12th doubled Surrey’s lead to two again, and not even a winning par at the long par-three 16th could rally Wheeler and Archibald over the last two holes.

Hampshire had bounced back from losing to Surrey two years ago to reach the final after the latter lost their final match to Kent.

So all Burden could hope for was to win six or seven of the eight singles to have any hope of pipping Kent, who play Surrey in a week’s time, to the title.

A fast start by Buenfeld had Hampshire’s county champion three-up after five, but Stock won four holes on the back nine to claim a 2&1 win – having shot six-under.
 

Burden was beaten by the same margin by O’Hagan as the two captains clashed in the third match out as Saunders and Archibald won their point to make it 6-2 to Surrey.

Wheeler and De’ath were doing their bit – having been sent out sixth and seventh respectively.
The former made light of beating former English Mid-Amateur Champion Corben 4&3.

De’ath – who had been four-up after 10 – killed off any fightback from Surrey Mid-Amateur Champion Alistair Kinnard, who produced birdies at 11 and 13, thanks to a four at the par-five 14th, before closing out a 3&2 victory.

But with Magee’s win over Hayling’s 2020 county champion Rich Harris and Will Dugdale earning an unlikely half against Young, Burden was left licking his wounds by the 71/2-41/2 defeat at the club where he has been a member for 25 years as Surrey’s unbeaten run against Hampshire was extended to eight games, including three ties.

Hampshire’s captain was left devastated by the result – Surrey whitewashed Hampshire at Coombe Hill three years ago, but it is believed to be the first 0-4 scoreline at home in more than a quarter of a century.

 
Toby said: “Surrey only came down for Saturday’s official practice but we had two squad sessions at Hayling in the fortnight beforehand, as I could not bank on at least one player reaching the last eight at Hoylake, which Joe did.

“‘I spoke to him on both Thursday and Friday as he won his early matches and then as he drove home from Hoylake to check about playing the next day.

“He was obviously playing well and was very honest saying he was prepared for playing against Surrey less than 24 hours later.

“The 4-0 scoreline at lunch was a big shock. We are so strong in foursomes – it was very unexpected. We needed to go out strong and get points on the board early.

“We all made a commitment to go out and do everything we could to win our matches and not worry about anyone else. There was plenty of blue on the board as the matches went down the back nine, even in terms of salvaging a draw.

“I can honestly say we all played well in the singles, and won the session by a point. George Saunders was six-under to win his match and Joe was five-under and still lost. I was four-under and lost to their captain.

“We spoke afterwards and the consensus among the players and Kev, our coach, was that Surrey just holed a lot of putts, and that is key in matchplay.”

And to rub salt in the wounds it was Dan Magee’s 3&2 win over Harris in the fifth singles that gave Surrey the winning point.

Toby added “I am really gutted we won’t get the chance to add another title to our excellent record in the South East League over the last 60 years. But we have a great squad and will go again next year.”

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