The Amateur

Gough on course for history

Match play specialist John Gough stayed on course to make history as he progressed to the last-32 of The 127th Amateur Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes and St Annes Old Links.

The R&A

15 Jun 22

3 mins

The Englishman has won 20 of his last 22 match play ties and saw off the challenge of Denmark’s Frederik Birkelund with a convincing 8&6 win to continue his knockout form.

Gough also won the Lytham Trophy at Royal Lytham & St Annes in May and can emulate Sir Michael Bonallack by winning The Amateur and Lytham Trophy in the same year. Only Bonallack has achieved that feat after he won the 1965 Lytham Trophy and then triumphed in that year’s Amateur at Royal Porthcawl. “Match play seems to be treating me well,” he said. “If I just keep playing matches and winning them, then I think we'll have a very nice outcome at the end. It's another opponent every day but I feel for people playing me, they could potentially feel that.”

Broomhead Progresses

Leading qualifier Jonathan Broomhead from South Africa continued his title bid, beating home club member Callan Barrow by one hole. He said, “I’m very happy with the win. There is a bit of past history with the number one seed getting knocked out in this round. I played very nicely today but I did let a few things go toward the end and Callan made some good putts coming down the stretch. There were a lot of people walking with us and I knew most of them were walking and supporting Callan.” However, there was disappointment for another English player, Barclay Brown. The Walker Cup player was beaten 4&3 by Dane Gustav Frimodt, who came through 36 holes today after a preliminary round victory against Lars van der Vight of the Netherlands. “I just kind of kept my head cool against Barclay,” commented Frimodt. “I only made one bogey through the whole day, so that's kind of what you have to do out here. He's obviously a great player. “I just kind of went out, with low expectations, played my game and for wherever it took me.”

The Lytham Lounge with Monty Scowsill | The Amateur Championship

Harvey Joy

Mark Power, another member of the Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup side at Seminole last year, stayed on track for success after a hard-fought one-hole win over Australian Jack Buchanan. Joe Harvey, the beaten finalist in 2020, was also a winner, defeating Jerry Ji from the Netherlands by a hole. However, there was disappointment for last year’s runner-up at Nairn, Monty Scowsill, who bowed out 6&4 to Aldrich Potgieter from South Africa. “I know I've got the ability to go all the way,” said Harvey. “I know I'm capable of winning this. It's a case of just one match at a time and playing the best you can. “To come here to the championship and see the way it's all set up I felt like, ‘wow, I'm at a proper Tour event’. It's nice to have it set up like this.”

Scott Delight

Scotland’s Sandy Scott, fit-again after almost two years of wrist injury problems, was victorious over Welshman Matt Roberts 2&1, but his younger brother, Calum, was knocked out by Irishman Jack Hearn 2&1. The Nairn player said, “I first started noticing some (wrist) pain probably in July two years ago. So it's been close to two years I've been dealing with it but I was fully out of the game for about 18 months and it was the hardest time of my life. I'm just grateful to be back playing golf again and really, really happy that I'm here.” Wales’ James Ashfield, a semi-finalist last year, beat Joshua Greer from Australia 6&4, while Sam Bairstow – the leading GB&I player in the field – came through against Norwegian Herman Huus by one hole. Swede Ludvig Åberg, the third best player on the World Amateur Golf Ranking®, continued his momentum after beating Jasper Stubbs from Australia 4&2.

Hanson support

“There's a lot that goes into match play,” he said. “It's a bit different compared to stroke play as you have to keep your ball in front of you, especially on a course like this where par is a good score. If you make 18 pars here you're probably not going to lose a game. “It’s great to have Peter Hanson here (mentoring Swedish players). He has such experience, including in the Ryder Cup.” Italian Matteo Cristoni had a marathon day, winning at the 24th this morning against South African Jordan Peter Duminy, before a one-hole win against Englishman Olly Huggins. The 127th Amateur Championship is open to spectators with tickets available here or for purchase on the gate. The R&A will provide live broadcast coverage of the quarter-finals and semi-finals on Friday 17 June and the 36-hole Final on Saturday 18 June. This can be watched on The R&A’s website as well as its YouTube channel.

Day One at The 127th Amateur Championship

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