Douglas Johns Trophy
Marco Penge (Worthing) showed great form in winning the Douglas Johns Trophy at Harewood Downs on 1st August. A very strong field from afar afield as Yorkshire and Devon came to challenge for the unofficial England Under 15s Championship. Justin Rose, recent US Open Champion, won this event in 1995 and many other future International stars, including Luke Donald, have played in this event. Marco has just been selected for England to play in the Boys Home Internationals and was the lowest handicap of plus 3 on the day. His opening round of 4 under par proved why he was favourite but at lunchtime he held just a 1 shot lead from Alex Fitzpatrick (Hallamshire) younger brother of Matthew who won the Silver Medal in The Open Championship at Muirfield last month. Arrun Singh Brar (Brokenhurst) and defending Champion was also under par after rounds of 68.
The afternoon was extremely hot and a strong breeze had developed which made scoring quite difficult and one or two players tired. Nonetheless 3 players beat par and Callum Hilton (Warren) posted the clubhouse lead at level par just before Alex and Arrun tied at 1 under. In the last group Marco birdied the 17th to go 1 under for the afternoon and held a 4 shot lead coming down the last. His second shot cleared the green to the surprise of all the spectators, but the golfing gods were smiling, and he got a good lie and managed to make a bogey and still win by 3 shots.
Click HERE for the full results.
Marco Penge – Douglas Johns Trophy
