A bogey-free, final-round 65 secured a first national title for Sam Easterbrook, who came from three back to win the Scottish Boys U-16s Championship at Dumfries & County today.
The Warwickshire player was understandably “buzzing” after his four-under-par closing effort saw him finish two ahead of Somerset’s Freddie Turnell (Burnham and Berrow) and second-round leader Joshua Berry (Doncaster) in the 54-hole strokeplay competition.
Sam, who is a member at Wishaw and Olton, was in the group in front of Joshua and birdies at the third, 11th, 13th and 17th saw him finish on six under although he was unaware how the tide had turned in his favour.
“I knew I had a good score going but I didn’t want to look at the scoreboard because I just wanted to concentrate on what I was doing,” said the 16-year-old
Had Sam dared to look he would have seen the leader was having an eventful third round. Josh closed with a one over par 70 having opened with a 64, which left him joint top after day one along with American-based Scot Niall Donegan.
Sam started off with a 70 after a difficult day on the greens but got himself into contention in round two despite recording two double bogeys, the second of which was incredibly unfortunate as his drive finished too close to the greenkeeper’s shed meaning it was out of bounds.
That apart he played some sensational stuff and coped superbly with a two-hour delay for bad weather.
He had just finished the ninth when play was halted and at that point was one under par having eagled the seventh.
On the resumption he notched four birdies in six holes and almost aced the 14th. The double at 18 meant he closed with a 66 which left him in fourth.
In round three he landed a huge psychological blow by birdieing the third – scene of his six 24 hours earlier – and, after also birdieing the 11th, he produced a stunning three at the long, par four 13th. Having finished ten yards short with his approach, he chipped in.
A massive drive set up a tap-in three at the penultimate hole and he didn’t have to wait long for confirmation the trophy was his.