Peter McEvoy Trophy delight for in-form Kent teenager
Kent’s Jack Lee enjoyed a rollercoaster couple of days in the Midlands but came out smiling as he claimed the Peter McEvoy Trophy by four shots.
FORMAT: 72-hole stroke play
Having started on the tenth, the first-round leader looked out for the count in the middle of the third round after playing his opening 11 holes in five over to drop right down the leaderboard.
However five birdies in his final seven holes saw him roar back into contention and then a closing 68 (-3) was enough to get the job done with Isla McDonald-O’Brien (Shrewsbury) also finishing strongly (67) to grab second ahead of 54-hole leader Ben Brown (Romanby) while fourth-placed Morgan Blythe (Hexham) closed with a stunning 64.
Lee, who finished second in the Darwin Salver back in March, was the first Kent-based winner of the event since fellow Rochchester and Cobham Park player Matt Haines in 2007.
“I am really happy,” said the 17-year-old. “After that bogey on the second (his 11th) in the third round I said to myself ‘I’m out of it now’ but that run really gave me good momentum going into the final round.”
Lee’s run of birdies got him to within two of Yorkshire’s Ben Brown (Romanby) while Aussie Alexander Maxwell was just one shot further back going into the final round and he started his final round strongly despite another bogey on the second.
Thinking he probably had serious ground to make up on the leaders, Lee again went for it with driver on the fourth and again got close enough before getting up and down for birdie.
However things really took off for him at the par five seventh, where he holed out from 25 feet for eagle having set himself up brilliantly with a huge drive up the right.
At the short par four eighth he left himself a perilous 30-yard bunker shot but hit a beautiful recovery shot to five feet and also birdied the ninth. In the morning he had missed a seven footer for what would have been his sixth birdie in seven holes.
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And playing his birdie putt from virtually the same position, he did not miss to get to four under for his round.
At this point he saw a leaderboard which had him two back but in reality he was leading with bogeys at two and three costing Brown while Maxwell bogeyed four of the first six.
Down the stretch, Lee kept reeling off the pars, including 14 where his expertise out of the sand again proved critical as he stuck his third shot to six feet and holed the par putt.
However even he could not rescue a par at 16 where he caught a flier and found a bush behind the green. He managed to get it out to seven feet but just missed the putt coming back.
Lee added: “I had set myself the target of playing the last two rounds in six under to get to seven under overall and thought I needed to pick up two shots on the background.
“So I went for it with driver on 18 and hit a decent shot up the right. Then, as I am walking down the fairway, I caught the eye of Harry Malin who looked at me as if to say ‘what are you doing hitting driver’.
“He then held up four fingers so I knew I was four ahead and that settled me down and just tried to make a nice par. However I left my approach putt three foot short. I didn’t want to finish with a three-putt so it was nice to roll that one in.”
In the morning the Kent Boys squad member – the county won the SE Championship – looked to have blown his chance towards the end of his front nine. Having opened with four pars, he went bogey, bogey, double bogey and then another bogey followed at his 11th (the second) to leave himself four over for the tournament.
However, having stiffed his tee shot at the par three third (his 12th), he went on a glorious run, culiminating in him holing out from 15 feet at the eighth, a putt which got him back under for the competition.
In the afternoon England Girls player McDonald-O’Brien also came into the title reckoning having eagled the second and birdied the third but, in the end, she just had too much ground to make up.