April 26, 2010: Adam Andrews, the 2008 Lancashire Boy’s champion, produced some sensational golf to win the Faldo Series UK Championship at West Lancs Golf Club, Blundellsands, near Liverpool.
Andrews, who plays off a handicap of one out of the Ashton-in-Makerfield Golf Club, recorded rounds of 68 and 70 for a six under par 36-hole aggregate of 138 and a four stroke victory over Henry Tomlinson (Royal Lytham & St Annes) and Paul Kinnear (Formby).
The talented young Lancastrian also claimed a five stroke victory over Adam Wills (Sandiway) in the Under-21 section of the championship and earned a place at the 2010 Faldo Series Europe Grand Final, to be staged over the Faldo Course at the Lough Erne Resort, Co. Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, this September.
He will be joined at Lough Erne by the four other age group winners at West Lancs, Henry Tomlinson (Boys’ Under-18), Christopher Whatham (Boys’ Under-16), Jenna Birch (Girls’ Under-21) and the championship’s other stand-out performer, Brogan Townend, who went into the West Lancs event as the reigning Faldo Series Europe Girls’ Under-16 champion and proceeded to spread-eagle the girls’ field with two rounds of one under par 73.
Adams’ opening 68 included no less than six birdies and he fired four more in his second round 70 to finish the Under-21 event five shots in front of Wills and six ahead of Daniel Wastenay (Bonday), Charles Durnian (Fairhaven), Jack Sant (Ladbrook Park) and James Wilson (Formby) who shared fourth place on two over par 146. Matthew Gregson, son of former Ryder Cup player, Malcolm Gregson, finished alone in seventh place after rounds of 75 and 72.
Tomlinson opened with a level par 72 to start the second round of the Boys’ Under-18 event four shots adrift of the reigning Lancashire Boys’ champion, Paul Kinnear, but he fired a glorious eagle on the 530-yard par-5 15th to come home in 34 and tie Kinnear on two under par 142 before defeating him in a sudden-death play-off.
English international, Oliver Carr, from Heswall, the reigning Faldo Series Europe Under-16 champion, finished third, two shots behind Tomlinson and Kinnear on level par 144 after rounds of 70 and 74. Zain Wild (Hillside) and Oliver Lee Carr (Ulverston) were tied fourth in the Boys’ Under-18 event, with the latter claiming the low round of the championship with a closing five under par 67.
West Lancs’ Christopher Whatham gave the host club something to celebrate when he added a 71 to his opening 72 for a one under par 36-hole aggregate of 143 and two shot victory over Chorlton-Cum-Hardy’s Cameron Massey in the Boys’ Under-16 event.
Massey, who first represented his county, Cheshire, at the tender age of 12, held a three stroke advantage after an opening 69 but he fell away with a 76 on the second day and could only watch as Whatham carded three birdies and just two bogeys to book a trip to the Grand Final later on this year.
Pleasington’s Brogan Townend gave herself the chance to defend the Girls’ Under-16 title she won in last year’s Faldo Series Europe Grand Final in Rio de Janeiro by carding two rounds of 73 for a two under par aggregate of 146.
Townend recorded a quadruple bogey eight on the 332- yard par-4 15th during her opening round and also faltered a bit with a two over par outward nine of 39 on the second day but she confirmed her burgeoning reputation by racing home in three under par 34 with birdies at the 10th, 14th and 17th to claim a well-earned place at Lough Erne.
It has proved to be a successful month for the 15 year-old English international because she was also part of the England 2 squad that captured the team prize at the recent Scottish Girls’ Under-16s Championship at the Strathmore Golf Centre in Perthshire.
The Girls’ Under-21 event was claimed by Jenna Birch, from Royal Lytham & St Annes. She posted rounds of 77 and 80 for a 36-hole aggregate of 157 and a ten stroke victory over Amée Cox (West Lancs) and Lucie Walker (Ormskirk).