Results of the 2018 Junior Championship
MAXEY WINS JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP FOR SECOND YEAR IN A ROW
It was a lovely summer's day for the ERUGC Junior Championship at Burstwick on Wednesday 1st August, with many of the players turning up in shorts in order to soak up some sunshine on their way around the par 70 track.
Out first were the low handicap trio of Hornsea's Jack Maxey, Scarborough North Cliff's Tom Duck and Cottingham Parks' Dan Swales, and as all three blazed irons straight down the middle of the dogleg first hole, it was obvious one of these boys may well light the course up in the benign morning conditions.
A total of 39 players were in the field, but a couple of notable names were missing due to other commitments including the Rob McLeish Trophy winner from the East Riding Amateur, Lewis Hunt.
As the first round progressed, word began to spread around the field that the reigning champion Jack Maxey was on for an extremely good score. As Jack stood on the tee of the tough 18th hole (index six, with Out Of Bounds left and right, and a looming water hazard) with a score of six under par, he needed a par or better to set a new amateur course record, but a two errors of judgement resulting in him hitting 5-off-the-tee showed just how cruel golf can be. A resulting quadruple bogey closed the round on a score of 2 under par (68), bringing the chasing field back into the mix.
Jack's playing partner Tom Duck carded a very solid level-par 70 to keep within reaching distance of the leader going into round two.
As the later players were finishing their first 18 holes the conditions just started to worsen ever so slightly, as temperatures dropped by a couple of degrees and the wind increased to around 15mph, so thoughts were that the second round would yield higher scores across the board - but this was not to be the case.
Into round two and players were becoming more settled with the course and notable afternoon rounds were posted by Dan Swales (72), Charlie Milner (73) and Alfie Tidder (74), but no players again could match Maxey's scoring with a second round 68 to finish on 136.
In the end Jack won the tournament by eight shots from Tom Duck on 144 and Charlie Milner on 148, showing that his course experience (having been a member of Burstwick for nearly a decade) and a level of talent that gets him in to the Yorkshire team were not to be reckoned with on the day.
The nett score winner was Jack Eastman with two very impressive rounds of 65+66 to post a total of 131, one shot ahead of Alfie Tidder and Luke Thornton. Great shooting from both Jacks!
Thank you to all of the junior golfers from the East Riding Union who played in the event, and well done to the Jack Maxey on retaining the title!
Thank you to East Riding Officials John Illingworth, Chris Clarkson and Phil Woodcock for organising and assisting on the day, and thank you to Alan Key and his staff at Burstwick for their excellent hospitality and beautifully presented golf course.
