Last week Sussex’s Tim Hollis was only dreaming about playing in the Brabazon Trophy but last night the disbelieving 27-year-old was preparing to head to Sunningdale having won the Southern Qualifier.
FORMAT: 18-hole stroke play
As late as last Friday he was still 11th reserve for the qualifier at Golf at Goodwood and it was only on Monday lunchtime, while working in North Yorkshire, that England Golf called to say there was a place available.
It meant he turned up at the Sussex venue having driven through the night, getting home just after midnight and then lining up yesterday afternoon without a practice round.
The Haywards Heath player, who has never even qualified for the knockout stages of the Sussex County Championship in five attempts, then went last out and remarkably carded the lowest score of the day, winning on countback former England Boys international Enrique Dimayuga (Walton Heath) and former professional Alex Stubbs (Frilford Heath).
Hollis will now line up alongside a host of Walker probables like John Gough, Matthew McClean and James Ashfield at Sunningdale (May 25-28) while others on the GB&I team fringe will be bidding to make a big impression. There is also a huge contingent coming from Europe and Commonwealth countries.
“I didn’t even play over the weekend because I didn’t think there would be much point,” said the full-time Business Development Manager.
“When you are the 11th reserve that close to the event, you just don’t think it is going to happen.
“So it was a nice surprise to get the call. I had been playing good golf and I think it helped that I was last off. I could see the scoring was tough and I am not a golfer who is going to make a flurry of birdies. I guess I am quite a conservative player. I never go ridiculously low but then again I never shoot in the 80s.
“Players who had gone out early said getting through the first six holes unscathed was key and I aimed to try and get to the seventh level par so it was was very nice to be one under after six.”
Hollis, whose best round in competition is three under, held it together superbly despite bogeys on 10 and 12 as he clinically birdied every par five on the back nine before rolling in a 40-footer for par at the last.
He added: “Even though I knew I was near the top I was never thinking about winning it. It was all about finishing in those top 18 places and qualifying.
“I have never played Sunningdale before, so that in itself is special. However for me it will be great just to be in that company. You are not just talking about the best players in the country, they will be coming for all over the world.
“I do feel immensely proud. I think of myself as a club golfer but I work hard at my game. I’ve got a full-time job but I try practice as much as I can before work and then by playing a few holes in the evening too.”
Joining him at Sunningdale will be a quartet of Scotsmen, who led the way in the Northern Qualifier at Delamere Forest yesterday.
At the Cheshire venue there was a typically-strong contingent from north of the border with Ross Laird (Glenbervie) and Turnberry’s Ruben Lindsay topping the standings on six under (66).
California Polytechnic State University student Laird, who was third in the Scottish Boys last year, came home in a sparkling 32 to lead the standings. That after he birdied the first two holes.
Meanwhile Ayrshire’s Lindsay, who played in the 2021 Jacques Legalise Trophy, has just completed his first year at the University of Houston and returned from Texas last week to finish 34th in the Irish Men’s Amateur Open.
Lindsay made a blistering start yesterday and got to seven under after 13 before a bogey on the penultimate hole pegged him back.
In third was University of Stirling’s George Cannon. The Glenbervie ace had just one bogey and birdied the final two holes to qualify comfortably.
In the Midland qualifier at Kedleston Park, Woburn’s Mark Stockdale maintained his excellent start to the season. He finished one clear of Sutton Coldfield’s Jenson Forrester
The West of England Stroke Play champion, who also reached the quarter-finals of the South African Championship back in February, went bogey free in posting a five-under 67 and the up-and-coming 19-year-old is definitely one to watch next week.