JAMES Knight – the one member of the Hampshire side that claimed the county’s first English County Championship still playing elite amateur golf 28 years later – has spoken for the first time about Essex “stealing” the South East League title from them in 1996.
Sanford Springs’ James Knight played in the same six-man team as Justin Rose that qualified for the English County Finals that year, which Hampshire won by the narrowest of margins.
He was also an integral member of the eight-man team that was bidding for a fifth Daily Telegraph Salver win, when Stoneham hosted the South East League Final that October.
Essex, who arrived as North Division champions, pulled off a big shock three weeks after Hampshire’s victory at Woodhall Spa, the home of the English Golf Union, with a 61/2-51/2 win on Southampton’s highly regarded heathland course, bordering the M27 on the city’s outskirts.
James, who in a glittering amateur career won The Berkshire Trophy in 1996, and claimed The Berkhamsted Trophy in 2003 after a short spell in the pro ranks, after regaining his amateur status, recalled the events of the 1996 final, as Hampshire prepared for this weekend’s final – when Toby Burden’s team will defend the Telegraph trophy they won 12 months ago by beating Berks, Bucks and Oxfordshire.
“I have not thought or spoken about it for a very long time,” said Knight, the director of Castle Windows, based in Newbury.
“I played with Bobby Eggo in the morning foursomes which we won 4&3. We were 3-1 down at lunch, with a big mountain to climb in the afternoon.
“Matt Blackey – like me – played for England by then but lost the top singles match. Justin beat Matthew King, who we played in the morning – I remember the newspaper report said Justin holed three putts of about 12 feet to get back in it from two-down on the 14th.
“Justin was a star that year even though he was just 16. He won four holes in a row, including three birdies which made it 4-2 to Essex.
“Alan Mew, who had won six out of six points in the English County Finals, made five birdies and an eagle, chipping in at the 12th to beat David Curry 7&6, while Andy Haworth, another Stoneham member, won his match 5&4.
“But Bobby and I both lost and we needed to halve both games to pip Essex. As it was, I was three-down against Neil Ridewood, but got it back to level at the 15th, only to lose on the last, and Bobby lost to 2&1 to Bradley Smith, one of two ex-pro’s in their team.”
It was the first – and so far, only – time Hampshire had a chance to claim the South East and English double.
But Knight recalls there was no great sense of a missed opportunity when Hampshire lost to Essex, even though it was at Stoneham.
James Knight blamed the huge high Hampshire hit after winning their first English County Championship after 70. years in 1996, for their shock defeat by Essex in the South East League Final, three weeks later. Picture by ANDREW GRIFFIN / AMG PICTURES
James added: “The final was three weeks after we won at Woodhall Spa, and we certainly celebrated a lot as a team – we went to the Hampshire PGA dinner and were the heroes having finally won the English County Championship after 70 years of trying.
“Everyone connected with the county – like the captain, president and other officials – were just go pleased that we had finally got that monkey off our backs. Nothing else really mattered at that point.
“The more I think about it now, I do think it was a question of having climbed our Everest, and planted the Hampshire flag at the top, it was just really difficult to raise ourselves again.
“We had players like Alan Mew, who had won the English Mid-Amateur three times in a short space of time in the early 1990s and Bobby Eggo.
“He was the first Hampshire and Channel Islands player to appear in the Walker Cup back in 1987, and of course, Kevin Weeks, who was the English County Champion that year, beat Bobby in the final,” said James, who won the Selborne Salver in 1995.
“Hampshire won the South East League for the first time in 1986 after 22 years of trying, and then kept the Telegraph Salver for three years, so winning the League again was nowhere near the big deal that winning a first English County Championship was.
“Our players were used to doing their preparation for the really big events each year, like the Brabazon, The Berkshire, which I was overjoyed to win a couple of years earlier, and the English Amateur, which Steve Richardson had also won in 1989.
“The league final was a bit of an ‘after the Lord Mayor’s Show’ to be honest.
“Sure we wanted to win, but when you have gone through all the highs and lows like the three days at Woodhall Spa, and you use all that adrenalin, I think it was just too much to expect us to raise our game again in the last event of the season.”
But the passion to win still burns bright in the Knight golf game – he may be happily married to Rachel and the father of three kids, Amelia, Georgia and Rupert.
However, the ambition has not been dulled down the years when he admittedly has found his love of the game tested before rekindling it by rededicating himself to being the best he can be.
Knight has not given up hope of entering the winners’ circle again when it comes to contending in Hampshire championships – he was third in the Mid-Amateur last month, a few shots behind fellow 50-something ex-professional footballer Paul Telfer, the former Saints and Leeds star.
James, who made his England debut alongside Luke Donald against France, at Sunningdale, in May 1996, said: “I changed coach a couple of years ago and have been working really hard to get my game to where I want it to be.
“I am probably as fit as anyone who plays at this level even though I turned 50 this year – I used to run for England as well as play a good standard of golf.
“Things are very close to clicking. I am thinking about what I want to play in next year – I can try and qualify for the British Seniors Open, like Martin Young did at Sunningdale a couple of years ago.
“I can’t play Hampshire Seniors for another five years, so I will focus on things like the Hampshire Hog and Selborne Salver and play in the county championship.
“I finished sixth at The Berkshire this year. I don’t suppose anyone has won that 30 years apart. I love playing golf and seeing the standard of players Hampshire keeps producing is great to watch.
“Justin Rose was always going to be a star. He had that something that marked him out as just different to everyone else that was good at the time.
“He knew how good he was, and how good he could be and had that confidence – and support of his dad Ken – to make it happen.
“It was just great to be part of that team that made history. We just have to draw a line under that Essex defeat,” shrugged James.
Hampshire did gain some revenge four years later when they turned the tables by winning the Telegraph Salver at Frinton, when Essex had home advantage in the final.
And when Essex arrived at Stoneham for the South East Qualifier in 2010, they boasted it was just a question of how many shots they were going to win by.
The Hampshire team, captained that season by Mew, had other ideas and cruised to the English County Finals, winning the six-man title by 20 shots!
Toby’s team’s target on Sunday is to get to six-and-a-half points and keep the Salver in Hampshire for another 12 months.
Sandford Springs’ James Knight – third from right back row – in the England team that suffered a shock defeat at Sunningdale. Luke Donald is far left back row. Picture ENGLISH GOLF UNION