CAPPER FACES WARING IN ENGLISH AMATEUR FINAL
Todays's 36-hole final of the English Amateur Championship
at Bromborough will be an all-Cheshire affair between Steven
Capper from Caldy and Paul Waring from the host club.
After two tight semi-finals, Capper pulled off an upset when
he beat much-fancied fellow boy cap Oliver Fisher 3 and 2,
while Waring, cheered on by many of his club members, turned
the tables on Surrey’s James Morrison by 2 and 1.
Fisher, who had demolished fellow seed Matthew Cryer 6 and
on Friday morning, was on the back foot from the time when
he failed to get up-and-down from sand on the first hole,
his birdie putt lipping out. By the sixth hole Capper, who
put out fellow boy cap Gary Boyd before lunch, was three up
but Fisher won the next two holes with birdies to close the
gap again.
Both swapped birdies over the next few holes but Capper’s
birdie at the 14th was to prove decisive. It put him two ahead
and when Fisher missed the green at the par four 15th, Capper
cashed in with a winning par. The end came with halves at
the short 16th. While Capper moves on to the final it leaves
Fisher, the Essex 16 year old, to reflect that he had also
been beaten in the semi-finals of the Amateur Championship
at nearby Royal Birkdale a month ago.
“I’m ecstatic,” said Capper. “I’ve
been on coaching with Oliver so I know how good he is. During
the match I just concentrated on my game and didn’t
worry about what he was doing.”
The 17 year old now focuses on the biggest day of his golfing
life which also gives him the chance of revenge after Waring
beat him 6 and 5 in a boys match earlier in the year. “It
will be nice to put the record straight although I thought
it was 7 and 6,” said Capper.
Waring, who had beaten Durham’s Ryan Riley 3 and 2
in his morning quarter final, was locked in a see-saw battle
with Morrison, who had come out on top at the 19th against
his Surrey team-mate Ross McGowan before lunch.
Morrison started like a train with three birdies in the first
four holes to be two up. But Waring gradually hauled himself
back to be all square at the turn. An eagle-three at the 11th
put the Surrey man in front again but only briefly before
Waring won the 13th to get his nose in front for the first
time. It was a lead he was never to lose and a 40-foot birdie
putt at the 15th virtually secured his final place.
“He was hitting some awesome shots at the start and
gave me a real fright,” said Waring. “But I kept
my head, gave myself some opportunities and felt that when
I got in front I was determined to stay there. The crowd really
spurred me on. They were terrific but I won’t take Steven
lightly. He is playing well and that earlier win won’t
count for anything.”
Morrison was naturally disappointed but was heartened by
his play that had produced a host of birdies in the day. “I’m
disappointed but to reach the last four is quite an achievement,”
he said. “I was picked in the England B squad at the
start of the year so this hasn’t done me any harm.”
Morrison, from Weybridge, spent five months playing and working
on his game in Australia over the winter. “I achieved
a lot Down Under,” he added. “I wanted the chance
to play in a different country and in different conditions.
I wanted to get a step up the ladder and it has worked.”
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