MCGOWAN CONTINUES HIS WINNING WAYS AT BROMBOROUGH
Ross McGowan likes that winning feeling. Fresh from his victory
in the inaugural South of England Open Strokeplay Championship
at Walton Heath last week, he now has the English Championship
in his sights.
He proved he will be no pushover by overwhelming Walton Heath’s
own Stuart Howieson 7 and 6 in his first round tie as the
English Amateur Championship got underway yesterday under
grey skies at Bromborough.
“I’ve been playing well for some time,”
said the 23 year old, who is at college in Tennessee. “I’ve
had five top ten finishes in my last six events in the States
and I really enjoyed Walton Heath last week.”
The match had a relatively low tempo start but McGowan won
six holes in a row from the fourth, three with birdies, and
ran out an easy winner.
McGowan was one of five seeds to survive day one but three
more - Neil Walker, Neil Dean and Jamie Moul were beaten while
Matthew Richardson withdrew before the action began.
Gary Wolstenholme, who is still seeking the English title,
cantered to a 4 and 3 win over Christy McLaughlin from Jersey,
and will now meet new boy cap Jamie Abbott from Suffolk, who
had to go to the 20th before eliminating fellow teenager Tony
Mitchell.
Both players holed lengthy putts on the final green to take
the tie into extra time, then Mitchell holed from eight feet
at the 19th to stay alive. But at the par four 20th, Mitchell
took two to emerge from a bunker and finished with a double-bogey
six to concede the match with Abbott ten feet away in three.
Kent-based Steven Tiley, a team-mate of Wolstenholme’s
in England’s European Team Championship triumph at Hillside
earlier this month, had a comfortable 6 and 5 victory over
Andy Town, a quarter finalist two years ago, but Dean lost
out at the 19th to Surrey’s Colin Roope.
The first seed to go out was Walker, who went down 3 and
2 to Craig Wilkinson from Northumberland. Wilkinson built
the foundation of his victory by going three-up in the first
five holes, a lead he held virtually throughout before completing
victory on the 16th green.
Moul, a Walker Cup reserve, was involved in a battle with
Essex boy champion Dale Whitnell and he held a narrow lead
on the back nine but Whitnell bounced back and won the tie
on the final green.
Richard Walker, winner of the Brabazon Trophy in 2001, capped
27 times for England, and twice a quarter finalist, also had
a brief encounter with this year’s event, going down
3 and 2 to Kent’s Ricki Neil-Jones.
Neil-Jones was quick out of the blocks with birdies at the
first four holes to go three up. He was four ahead at the
turn but although Walker hit back to win two holes it wasn’t
enough. The tie had a curious finish at the short 16th where
Walker hit the flag with his tee shot but the ball finished
ten feet away from where he three-putted to bow out.
“Richard was suffering with a bad back but he still
played some fine golf,” said Neil-Jones.
Walker was pleased to be playing. “I had a car accident
back in January and was on my back for weeks,” he said.
“When that sort of thing happens you are just pleased
to be playing the game again.”
Former boy international Paul Waring, 20, a member of Bromborough,
was another seed to go through, 4 and 3 over fellow member
Joseph Murray, a match that naturally drew the biggest crowd
of the day.
“I didn’t play too well but it’s always
nice to get through the first round,” said Waring, whose
best performance this year has been third in the Welsh Open
Strokeplay Championship.
“I’ve been a member here since I was 14 and I
live only ten minutes away so I know the place quite well.
There is always a bit of extra pressure when you are playing
at home because the members expect you to do well.”
Robert Dinwiddie, another who will face the Americans in
next month’s Walker Cup in Chicago, was given a fright
by Yorkshire’s Nicholas McCarthy. Dinwiddie held a slender
one hole lead on the long 17th but McCarthy holed from off
the green for an eagle-three to square the match.
Dinwiddie then got up-and-down from a greenside bunker to
halve the 18th and take the tie into extra holes. The first
two were halved but the Walker Cup man got home with a birdie-four
at the 21st.
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