30 June 2010: Neil Henderson, a former Scottish Schools champion from The Glen Golf Club, North Berwick, claimed a spot in his second Faldo Series Europe Grand Final when he won both the overall and the Boys’ Under-21 prizes at the Faldo Series UK Championship at The Roxburghe near Kelso.
Henderson, a student at Old Dominion University in the USA, put together rounds of 73 and 69 for an impressive two-under par total of 142. That gave him a three stroke victory over Craig Ross (Kirkhill) and Simon Fairburn (Galashiels) for the overall prize and a four shot win over Daniel Kay (Dunbar) and Andrew Wallace (Glenbervie) in the Boys’ Under-21 event.
The victory at The Roxburghe earned Henderson a place in the 2010 Faldo Series Europe Grand Final, to be staged over the Faldo Course at the Lough Erne Resort, Co. Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, on September 21-23, where he will be joined by Boys’ Under-18 winner Ross, Boys’ Under-16 winner, Ewan Scott, and by Alison Goodwin and Lesley Atkins, who won the Girls’ Under-21 and Under-16 events respectively.
It will be Henderson’s second appearance in a Faldo Series Grand Final, having previously won the Under-18 title at the Faldo Series UK Championship at The Roxburghe back in 2007.
Henderson opened the event with a one over par 73 and then moved ahead of the field with a spectacular eagle on the 546-yard par-5 5th. He dropped a shot on the 469-yard par-4 10th but then romped home with three birdies to leave the rest of the field trailing in his wake.
Henderson’s nearest challengers for the overall prize turned out to be Ross and Fairburn who both produced rounds of 73 and 72 to share first place in the Under-18 event, two shots ahead of Grant Forrest (Galashiels).
Ross had looked odds on to emerge as winner of the Under-18 event when he produced an eagle on the 523-yard par-5 14th but Fairburn birdied the 422-yard par-4 18th to force a tie before succumbing to a birdie three on the first hole of the subsequent sudden-death play-off.
Ewan Scott, a hugely promising scratch handicapper from the St Andrews Golf Club, will join Henderson and Ross at the Faldo Series Grand Final at Lough Erne after producing rounds of 76 and 72 to finish three shots ahead of Cameron Farrell from Cardross in the Boys’ Under-16 event.
Scott, the first Scot to win the English Boys’ Under-14 Stroke Play Championship, went into the second round one shot behind overnight leader, Blair Carnegie (Dunblane New) but took control with a fine level par 72 that left him three shots ahead of Farrell and four in front of Craig Howie (Peebles).
Alison Goodwin (Glenbervie) and Lesley Atkins (Minto) can also look forward to a trip to Northern Ireland after winning the Girls’ Under-21 and Girls’ Under-16 events. Goodwin produced a second round of 72 to emerge a clear winner in the Under-21 event while Atkins carded rounds of 75 and 79 to finish six shots ahead of Clara Young (North Berwick) in the Under-16 tournament.