Joe is Junior Champion

Joe is Junior Champion

The best juniors from within BB&O joined together on Tuesday 1st August to compete in the BB&O Junior Championship. Gus Leetham (Buckingham) got off to a flying start with 4 birdies in his round to finish with a 76 – nett 66! Gus went into the second round at the top of the nett leaderboard, 4 shots ahead of the next competitor. Gus’ solid morning round secured him the Justin Rose Daily Telegraph nett prize and his score will get submitted into the qualification for the final at the end of the year. Nathan Baggett (Beaconsfield) had an eagle on the 17th which contributed towards his 76 (+4) leaving him in contention after round one. Alfie Burt (Wexham Park) carded 3 birdies on his way to shooting 73 (+1). Joe Getley (Harewood Downs) birdied the 17th to sneak ahead of Alfie and finish in the top spot. With 1 shot separating the top 2 players it looked like it was going to be a close finish. 

Gus followed up his morning round with a nett 74 (+2) to finish -4 for the event. This great nett total looked hard to beat as the course was playing long and with thick rough and tricky pin positions, challenged every aspect of the game. Congratulations to Gus on lifting the nett trophy and being our Junior Handicap Champion for 2023! 

In the scratch event, Jakob Payne (Burford) catapulted himself up the leaderboard with a level par afternoon round. However with a bogey up the last hole Jakob just narrowly missed out. Alfie birdied the final hole to finish +4 for the round and +5 for the event. Joe had an unfortunate double bogey down the last hole which meant that the championship would be decided by a sudden death play-off for the second year running. 

Everyone headed back to the first tee where both Joe and Alfie hit the fairway and left only a wedge into the green. Joe hit first, and despatched a fantastic approach shot to 15 feet. With the pressure on, Alfie hit a great shot online but finished just short of the green. With a putter in hand, Alfie rolled the ball down to 3 feet. Joe now had a 15 foot putt to become the BB&O Junior Champion. With a crowd behind the green, Joe hit the putt and it dropped into the centre of the cup. Perfectly executed. A little fist pump from Joe expressed how much the win meant. 

Congratulations to Jakob Payne on being crowned the U15 BB&O Champion & Alfie Burt on becoming the BB&O U16 Champion. 

The BB&O Junior Champion for 2023 is Joe Getley! Congratulations on a fantastic win and clutch putt in the play-off. 

Click here to view the final leaderboard.