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After a wonderful start to the season with beautiful sunshine at each of the first three events, the heavens certainly opened at the South Staffs Classic!

The morning started bright enough, but no player escaped the tricky conditions, so very well done to everyone who took part!
Having Peter Baker, former European Tour and Ryder Cup player and BJGT Ambassador, on hand to help, encourage the juniors, and give out some trophies is always fantastic for the juniors, so our thanks go to him and the club for as warm a welcome as ever!
Many thanks also to the Lady Captain for helping out on the day by acting as Starter for the 9-10 Division.

11-12 Category

Luca Randall (83; Cambridge Country Club) in group 1 of the Boys 11-12 Division started with an eagle on the first hole on his way to a 7-shot winning margin on his first start of 2021. His good friend and home player, Jack Stockton (South Staffs), followed him home in second, having just got the better of Fallon Sawyers-Grandon (Swansea Bay) on countback after matching 90s.

13-14 Category

The 13-14 Division was a lot tighter, as four shots covered the first four players: Oliver Baker (Colchester) claimed a single-shot victory over playing partner, Josh Gardner (Coventry), after rounds of 74 and 75, respectively, ahead of the 2020 11-12 OOM Champ, Ronnie Groves (Enville), who started his 2021 13-14 campaign with a third place finish.

Junior Open Category

The Boys Junior Open Net Division was topped by Harry Bryce (Telford) with a cracking round of 66 from the final group, in the worst of the weather conditions, ahead of Jay Eggleton (Cottesmore) in second with a fine 68 of his own, and Brodie Miller (Telford) in third after posting a total of 73.
Jay went one better in the Gross Division, meaning that he took home two nice pieces of glassware, as his 78 was good enough to take the win by one shot from Harrison Foxall (79; Leek), who was two shots clear of Theo Baker (81; Colchester) in third.
Ava Waplington (Coxmoor) went one better than Jay in the Girls Division, as she claimed a double victory with her Gross 78/Net 74 good enough to take both titles. Megan Bishop (The Wychwood) followed her home in the Gross Division after her round of 86, and Lilia Marklew (Enville) took second in the Net Division, but having matched Ava’s 74 only lost out over the back 9.

6 & Under Category

Two intrepid competitors in the 6 & Under Division headed out in terrible conditions, although being from Scotland and Wales, they are rather used to inclement conditions. Brodie MacIver (51; Bryn Meadows) continued his winning start to 2021 with another top spot, ahead of Fraizer Harris (59; Nairn), but both had a great time despite getting rather wet and made friends.

7-8 Category

The 7-8 Boys Division saw a BJGT debut win for Layton Riches (Sandhill) whose fantastic 42 was well deserving of the top spot, ahead of Theo Oderinde (Lavender Park) in second after his round of 47, which was matched by Johnny Hughes (West Derby), but countback separated them over the last 6 holes, meaning that Johnny had to settle for third.
As per the Tour Policy, girls play for separate trophies at events where there are three or more in any division and the 7-8 Girls winner was Jasmine Ren (Sherdons), who produced a fantastic round of 44 to claim the title ahead of Stella Walters (Craigielaw), who was only two shots back, as the girls finished second and third, respectively, in the overall (mixed boys and girls) 7-8 places. Impressively, Stella has also climbed to second place in the overall OOM table, so a fantastic start to the season for her!

9-10 Category

Lastly, there was another wonderfully tight finish in the 9-10 Boys Division, as Fraser Walters (Craigielaw) took maximum OOM points to climb to second in the early table standings with his 41 good enough for a single-shot victory over Alfie Warke (Beau Desert) in second, while Brendan Riff (The Leicestershire) grabbed third on countback after matching 44s with Ricky Mohun (Chester [Curzon Park]). Georgia Groves (Enville) took the Girl’s trophy, with a 52.

The BJGT now moves down to South Essex during half-term, so we are certainly hoping for sunnier skies!

 

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