Bromborough Bowl also falls to 18-year-old after Frank Stableford Scratch victory
Royal Liverpool’s Matty Dodd-Berry made it two wins out of two in this year’s golfnews24 Northern Order of Merit thanks to a two-shot victory in the Bromborough Bowl.
FORMAT: 36-hole stroke play
The 18-year-old blazed a trail as he won the Frank Stableford Scratch Open at the end of May and, although it wasn’t quite as spectacular this time around, he performed superbly on the bouncy fairways and lightning-fast greens to move up to third in the overall standings.
Dodd-Berry, who is also a member at Bromborough, came through in the afternoon to overhaul runner-up Mark Kimpton. The Vicars Cross player led by one at halfway thanks to an opening 70 but could not maintain that pace after lunch (73).
And a bit of local knowledge certainly helped the victor, who came fourth in the England U-18s last year (Carris).
“The course was in mint condition,” said Dodd-Berry.
“But it was so hard because it was so difficult to hold the fairways and the greens were so quick. You had to plot your way around and know which spots to avoid on the greens to avoid the three-putts.”
The teenager got out of the blocks fast in the afternoon round, getting to two under after three holes although that was after a “disappointing” par at the first where he almost drove the green.
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At the next he flighted his approach to four feet and then took advantage of the par five third for birdie number two.
At the fifth the hard fairways bit back as his three wood made its way into trees and it led to a double bogey.
But he bounced back straight away. In the morning round he had stuck his tee shot to 15 feet at the par three sixth but missed the putt. He found almost the exact same spot with a six iron after lunch but this time took full advantage of having seen the line just a few hours earlier.
At the par five 11th he played it safe off the tee and it paid off. He hit hybrid in for his second before getting up and down in a brilliant style. After rolling one in from 15 feet he was back to three under overall.
A couple of birdies lip-outs followed before he made a great par save on the difficult 15th. His second left him short sided but he just managed to clear the sand trap with his chip and he knocked in the three footer.
At 17 he got to three under for his round where his “best shot of the day” left him with a 20-foot eagle attempt. A four iron into the heart of the green meant he only had two feet for birdie.
However the final hole, with its blind second shot to an incredibly narrow green, cost him a shot. He just went right and could not get up and down but a closing 70 (-2) was enough to earn him 25 Northern Order of Merit points and he will be looking for more at the Cheshire Cat later this month (July 14 & 15), which is made up of the Stockport Salver (Stockport GC) and Wilmslow Crow (Wilmslow GC).