Last year Lancashire-based Alex James nailed his national colours to the Welsh mast and his first ‘home event’ turned into a landmark few days as he finished five clear of the field in the Welsh Open Youths (Mixed) at Porthmadog.
FORMAT 54-hole stroke play
With a Welsh father and English mother, The Royal Lytham player made the affiliation decision late last year and certainly made a big impression at the weekend as he claimed his first national title and recorded his lowest 54-hole score (in terms of under par).
For the Tennessee-based Lincoln Memorial University student all the “hard work” across the Atlantic is starting to bear fruit, patricularly on the greens.
“My putting from inside 15 feet was really good and that was great to see because I have put a lot of work into that department of the game,” said James.
“The head coach at Lincoln (Travis Muncy) and his assistant (Brad Robinson) are a big reason for that improvement.”
Time and again the 20-year-old’s short game kept the bogeys off the card although he had to overcome the shock of a double bogey on the first hole. In the final reckoning he finished well clear of Welsh Men’s Open Stroke Play champion Caolan Burford (Rhuddlan) and Iestyn McAvoy (Glynhir).
James recovered from the ugly six in double-quick time, chipping in for eagle at the third on his way to an opening one-under-par 70. That left him just one back of first round leaders Jamie Butler (Ireland) and Joe Teasdale (North Manchester).
However by the close on Saturday night he was three clear thanks to a 67 and once again it was his short game that proved the catalyst for a run of excellent scoring on the back nine.
He escaped with a par on 11, came close to driving the green at 12, before getting up and down for a birdie, and then finished with three birdies in a row. At 16 he fired in a wedge to four feet, went for the green in two at the par five 17th and just missed before one putting again after another good chip and, at 18, was right on the money with his approach, knocking in the short birdie attempt to get to five under overall.
On Sunday a “nice up and down at the second” proved the perfect “settler” and he reached the turn in 34 (-2). His first bogey of the day came at his nemesis (the 10th – there he got his third successive bogey) but a brilliant two at 13 kept the challengers at arm’s length. He only had a two-footer for his third birdie of the day and he rounded things off in great style by draining a 40-foot bomb at the last for a closing 69 (-2).
“I just wanted to leave it one or two feet short of the hole so to see that go in was a bit of a bonus.”