Sharpe's the word as Oscar hits the front
 Oscar
Sharpe lived up to his name to sweep to the top of the leaderboard
at the halfway stage of the McGregor Trophy at a breezy Worthing
in Sussex.
The 13-year-old from Gloucestershire, (pictured - photo courtesy
of Tom Ward) carded a second round 72 for 142, level par,
to go into the final 36-holes with a two-shot lead from Day
1 leader Liam Brace and Michael Hamilton.
Sharpe, the youngest player in the field but showing sufficient
confidence to take the title, only managed one birdie and
might have fallen away as he ran into trouble with successive
bogeys at the 14th and 15th. But he responded by parring his
way home for a rewarding 72.
“I could have crumbled after those two bogeys but I
managed to keep my game together and my temperament under
control,” he said. “I’m happy to be in the
lead and I like being a front-runner. I’m hitting the
ball well and I’ll try to be relaxed over the final
two rounds.”
Brace, 16, from Suffolk, would have kept his lead but he
stumbled over the homeward stretch, finishing bogey-double
bogey for a 76 and 144. “My ball finished against the
root of a tree at the last and I couldn’t move it far
and I eventually took six,” he said.
Hamilton, 15, a member of the Kent boys team from Chislehurst,
three-putted three times in his 71 but was happy to be among
the front-runners. “It took me time to get used to the
greens which I found very fast,” he said.
Stiggy Hodgson was another to go round in 71 with four birdies
for joint fourth place on 145. The Sunningdale lad might have
been sharing second spot but for a double-bogey seven at the
16th. “Despite the double I’m pleased because
if you had offered me level par before I went out I would
have taken it,” he said.
Alongside Hodgson is Matt Johnson after a 75, while reigning
under 14 champion Eddie Pepperell, also from BB&O is shot
further back after a three-birdie 72 that also contained a
triple-bogey seven at the 11th. He shares equal sixth place
with Jordi Garcia Pinto of Spain, another with 71.
However, the best round of the day, a one-under-par 70, was
returned by Warwickshire’s Robert Bardsley for 147
The cut came at 13 over par 155 with 47 players surviving
for tomorrow’s final two rounds.
In the battle for the Nations Cup decided on the best two
cards from three over the first two rounds, the two England
teams shared the trophy on 295, a stroke ahead of Spain 1.
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