72 of the best golfers within Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire competed at Burnham Beeches Golf Club for their chance to be crowned the BB&O Amateur Champion. Past winners of the prestigious trophy include Luke Donald, Tyrrell Hatton, David Langley & John Gough. The players couldn’t have been provided with better conditions as the course was immaculate and weather was perfect.
Aidan Benger (Studley Wood) was quick out of the blocks, firing 8 birdies on his way to taking the lead after the morning round on -3. Harry Thomas (Frilford Heath), wanting to better his top 5 finish last year, shot a morning round of -2 to trail by 1. Under 16 squad member, Ollie O’Dell (The Springs) had a very impressive round of -1 to sit on a tie for 3rd with Jean Michel-Hall (Woburn) & Henry Drake (Calcot Park). The chasing pack of George Wilson (Calcot Park), Archie Smith (The Caversham) & previous champion Tom Lawson (Ellesborough) headed into the second round 3 shots back.
The afternoon provided an exciting finish to day one of the championship. Tommy Evans (Beaconsfield) shot -1 to jump into 5th place on level par. Archie & Jean-Michel continued to perform well finishing -1 after 36 holes. Harry was able to match his morning round of 68 to set a clubhouse lead of -4 as Aidan was unable to match his earlier performance. In the final group, Ben Loveard stormed into the lead after shooting a course record matching 64 (including a bogey up the 18th) to finish -5 heading into the final day.
A cool wind welcomed the top 16 and ties to the second day giving an opportunity for all to emerge from the pack. Kevin Freeman (The Berkshire) set the pace with a 67 (-3) closely followed by Thomas Taylor-Cross (The Springs) and defending champion Ed Davis (Studley Wood) who continued to move up the leaderboard with a 68 (-2). Archie started to put pressure on the leaders as he was -5 thru 11 before dropping a few shots on the back nine finishing -1 for his round (-2 total). Tommy played his way into tied third alongside Harry on -1 after the morning round. Despite carding a +1 par (71), Ben remained in the top spot heading into the final 18 holes with a 2 shot buffer over Archie.
As the breeze stiffened and the greens became firmer and faster, drama began to unfold in the afternoon. Both Archie and Ben were over par after 9 holes but Ben was still holding on to the lead at the turn. Meanwhile, Ed continued his remarkable comeback by shooting a final round of 67 which proved crucial as he got back under par for the event. Now chasing the lead, Ben started to fight back as he chipped in for par on 15 and then birdied both the 16th and 17th. After a marvellous approach to the final green his 10ft birdie putt shaved the hole which meant a playoff was needed to decide our 2025 champion.
On the first hole of “sudden death” Ben’s three wood drifted left forcing him to chip out and rely on getting up and down from 30 yards. Ed’s long iron had found the middle of the fairway but left him an awkward pitch which he knocked to 30 feet. Ben pitched to 15 feet but his par putt drifted agonisingly past the hole and after an aggressive first putt, Ed cooly holed out from four feet to retain his title.
Congratulations to Ed on an incredible fightback to win the BB&O Amateur Championship back to back – an accomplishment not many have achieved.
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