EAGLE-EYED SHARPE CLOSES IN ON TITLE DOUBLE
Oscar Sharpe is on course to complete a national junior double
after firing a two-under-par 67 in the opening round of the
English Boys Under 14 Stroke Play Championship at Gosforth
near Newcastle yesterday.
Already the under 16 Champion, Sharpe from Cheltenham is
a stroke ahead of his Gloucestershire team-mate Adam Carson
and two ahead of Chris Lloyd, also from Gloucester, who is
among six players on 69.
Sharpe laid the foundation for his 67 on an eagle-two at
the 412 yard 10th where he holed a five-wood from 195 yards.
“I was shocked, but it was a nice shock,” said
Sharpe, who will make his England debut in next week‘s
under 16 international with Spain at Heswall. Curiously, the
13 year old from Cheltenham had not been practising his long
game recently. “I’ve been concentrating on the
short game and it’s progressing well. But that eagle
was a surprise,” he added.
Carson, who will play alongside Sharpe and Lloyd in the forthcoming
English Boys County Finals at Pannal at the end of the month,
didn’t look on course for a 68 when he began bogey-double
bogey. But he played the other 16 holes in four under par
including seven birdies.
“I felt sick after that sort of start,” said
the 14 year old from Nailsea. “But that really woke
me up and I gradually got my confidence back.”
Among the group on 69 is Chris Lloyd, while northern hopes
rest with 12 year old Sebastian Crookall-Nixon from Cumbria
and Yorkshire’s Daniel Hawksworth.
Crookall-Nixon, the Cumbria under 16 Champion off four handicap,
had two birdies in his 69 as did 13 year old Hawksworth, a
seven-handicapper from Bradford.
Also on level par is James Burnett, 14, a four-handicapper
from Lincolnshire, 13-year-old Jake Harrison, off seven from
Mansfield, and Essex-based 14-year-old Chris Moore.
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