ENGLISH PLAYERS CLINCH FOREIGN TITLE HAT-TRICK
 Hard
on the heels of England’s fine victory in the Boys Home
Internationals in Wales, Luke Collins (pictured left - photo
courtesy of Tom Ward), Neil Chaudhuri and Ben Parker rounded
off a triumphant week for English amateur golf by winning
the Finnish, Czech and German Amateur Championships respectively.
Collins, 22, from Somerset, won the Finnish in Helsinki,
carding a closing round of 69 for 206, seven under par, and
a three-shot winning margin from Mikael Salminen from Finland.
Collins, a member of the England A squad and winner of the
Berkshire Trophy this summer, had the lowest returns for each
of the three rounds.
Ben Evans from Sussex finished fifth on 213 and Gary Wolstenholme,
a former winner of the event, was 11th a shot further back.
Mark Thistleton was 44th after missing the halfway cut.
England also won the Nations Cup by six shots.
Leading final scores Finnish Open Amateur Championship:
206 L Collins (Eng) 70 67 69
209 M Salminen (Fin) 71 68 70
212 M Christensen (Swe) 71 71 70
212 J Haglund (Swe) 70 71 71
Other English scores:
213 B Evans 70 71 72
214 G Wolstenholme 71 71 72
Missed Cut M Thistleton 80 71
In the Czech Amateur at the Astoria Golf Resort, Chaudhuri
was locked in a battle with Italy’s Nino Bertasio for
the title.
Chaudhuri went into the final round with a four stroke lead
but the Italian cut that to two on the front nine only for
Chaudhuri to reply with some excellent shots. The key to his
victory came on the 16th when he holed an eagle putt which
was to prove decisive. Chaudhuri carded a closing 66 for 265,
15 under par, while Bertasio was on 12 under.
Having been the joint winner of the Peruvian Open in 2005,
this was Chaudhuri’s second victory of the season following
his triumph in the Duncan Putter. He said: “It is a
very special moment for me. It is my first time in the Czech
Republic and I am very glad that I was victorious. Nino gave
me good run but I think I responded to that well. That is
why I am very proud of this," said 22 year old from Leicestershire.
Andrew Sullivan finished equal 11th on 280 while Gregg Blainey
shot 286 for joint 29th place.
Leading final scores Czech Amateur Championship:
265 N Chaudhuri (Eng) 67 65 67 66
268 N Bertasio (It) 68 67 68 65
273 P Strýèek (Cze) 70 67 68 68
274 J Korda (Cze) 68 72 67 67
Other English scores:
280 A Sullivan 69 72 67 72
286 G Blainey 71 71 72 72
Parker, the England international, was a clear winner of
the German Amateur at Seddiner See near Berlin, completing
a five-stroke victory over the field. The Hamburg-based 20
year old finished on six-under-par 282 after a closing round
of 71. He won by five shots from Germany’s Alexander
Knappe, who climbed the leader board with a final round of
68, and Hinrich Arkenau with 70.
Hugues Joannes from Belgium, runner-up in last year’s
Carris Trophy at Sherwood Forest, carded a closing 73 to drop
back into a share of fourth place with another German, Maximilian
Kieffer.
Leading final scores German Amateur Championship:
282 B Parker (Eng) 71 66 74 71
287 A Knappe (Ger) 75 72 72 68
287 H Arkenau (Ger) 73 73 71 70
288 H Joannes (Bel) 72 70 73 73
288 M Kieffer (Ger) 75 68 76 69
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