THREE of Hampshire’s top talents have made a fast start in qualifying for this week’s English Amateur Championship, at Hoylake, on Tuesday.
With none of the country’s leading players who are in with a chance of selection for the Walker Cup clash against America at Cypress Point, in September, travelling to the North West, Stoneham’s Harvey Denham hit the front early at Royal Liverpool, getting to four-under with two holes to play.
With nearby Wallasey GC also being used for the 36-hole qualifier, Denham, who has been in the top-five ranked golfers in junior college golf in the USA this season, fired two birdies on the front nine in Cheshire.
He then bounced back from a bogey at the 12th with a magnificent eagle at the 13th.
The youngest-ever winner of Hampshire’s Pechell Salver – the 36-hole county championship qualifier – then bodied the second par-five on the back nine and ended his round with a birdie at the last to jump into a share of second place.
Garforth’s Jake Wallis posted the early lead with a seven-under 65 at Wallasey with two more Hampshire players matching Denham’s early pace-setting.
Corhampton’s former Hampshire Colts Champion Jamie Markwick was also on four-under with a couple to play at Wallasey, picking up two quick birdies at the first and third, and two more at the 11th and 14th.
Markwick has been playing well since completing his six-year stay at college in the States, returning from completing his masters degree at South Carolina’s Anderson University to reach the last four in the county championship, before losing to Hartley Wintney’s Charlie Preston.
Corhampton’s Jamie Markwick who won Farnham’s Silver Frigate and Sword.
Jamie, who became just the second Hampshire teenager to claim the South East Junior Champion in 2018, continued that good form later that month with an emphatic 10-shot win in the Silver Sword and Frigate at Farnham, just over the Hampshire border in one of Surrey’s top Order of Merit events, with a long history dating back to 1934.
He too finished his first round with a birdie three to join Denham in second spot among the early starters, with the field capped at 99, with the first round of the English Women’s Amateur Championship being played over the same two courses simultaneously.
Preston, who impressed by reaching Final Qualifying at Burnham & Berrow for this month’s Open Championship, was four-under having just gone through the turn at Hoylake, which last hosted the Amateur Championship in 2000, six years before the Open returned after a 40-year absence from the R&A rota.
The teenager – who lost to Stoneham’s Joe Buenfeld in the final of the Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Channel Islands Amateur Championship in June – made a fast start with three birdies in the first six holes.
The 18-year-old from Hook – the family home of Justin Rose – dropped a shot at the seventh, but bounced back immediately with a four at the par-five eighth to get back to three-under, picking up another shot at 10th.
But as the afternoon rounds progressed, Hampshire’s fast-starting trio found themselves sliding down the leaderboard, through no fault of their own – Denhas went down to a share of 15th, as Markwick slipped to 18th and Preston ended up in a two-way tie for 52nd place.
Liphook’s former English Schools U16 champion Sam West posted an excellent 66 at Wallasey to claim a share of seventh place, helping to knock Denham and Markwick a good 10 places down the leaderboard.
West, who won the Hampshire Colts Championship last year, and plays for Ohio’s Miami University, went out in three-under at Wallasey, before making three birdies in a row from the 13th to make up ground on the leaders.
A dropped shot at the 16th was quickly balanced out by a birdie at the last last to get to six-under.
But St Neots’ Sam Marshall fired a brilliant 62 to lead on 10-under at Wallasey, while Hertfordshire’s Max Hopkins –winner of the Hampshire Hog at North Hants GC, in 2022 – shot the best round of the day at Hoylake, a 62.
Liphook’s Sam West was among the early pacesetters at the English Amateur Championship with a 66 at Wallasey. Picture by ANDREW GRIFFIN / AMG PICTURES
That round included nine birdies and no bogeys – with Hoylake – set to host the six rounds of knockout golf between Thursday and Sunday. It has hosted the Open Championship 13 times since 1897 and three times since 2006.
Stoneham’s county champion Joe Buenfeld – who could miss Hampshire’s South Division clash with Surrey on Sunday at Hayling, if he goes deep into the knockout, carded a 71 at Hoylake, to lie in 81st place having made four birdies at the famous Open venue.
Clubmate Elliot Thomas went one better at Wallasey, to sit in 61st place, with the top 64 going through to the matchplay phase on Thursday.
Buenfeld, a former European Junior Open winner, will need to improve his score by at least one in Wednesday’s second round to have a realistic chance of qualifying.
West’s Liphook clubmate George Saunders – winner of the 72-hole Hampshire Salver at Blackmoor, back in April – fared less well carding a one-over par 73 at Wallasey to find himself in 134th spot.
Test Valley’s Stuart Archibald, who won the Logan Trophy for the second time at Durham’s Rockliffe Hall, carded a 74 at Wallasey to sit in 149th place.
North Hants’ James Atkins, a memer of Hampshire’s Challenge League South East Final team in 2024, had a costly double bogey on the par-five 16th, to drop back to level-par, in 122nd place, having got to the turn in three-under and well on course to qualify.
•Follow live scoring at the English Amateur Championship first round here.
Left to right: Stoneham’s Harvey Denham, Corhampton’s Jamie Markwick and Hartley Wintney’s Charlie Preston. Pictures by ANDREW GRIFFIN / AMG PICTURES