Aldeburgh’s Gregor Tait showed his class to win the Suffolk County Championship by ten shots on his home course.
The 23-year-old (pictured above), who finished third in the strokeplay stages of the British Amateur Championship before becoming unstuck against England international Sam Bairstow in the first matchplay round, opened with a superb three-under-par 65 to lead by six after the first round of the 54-hole strokeplay competition and never let up.
Gregor, who is about to start his fifth year at Feton University in New Jersey, followed it up with a 69 and 74 to finish well clear of Gorleston’s Danny Western, who in turn was five ahead of third-placed Russell Oakey (Bury St Edmunds).
In fact the only danger to Gregor collecting his second county title was a lack of concentration having built up such a big lead.
He said: “In the second round there was a four hole stretch where I switched off and you just can’t do that at Aldeburgh. If you switch off for one second you can rack up a big number.
Gregor Tait just misses out on Tillman Trophy
“But I was pleased with how I didn’t just flunk shots away in the final round and win by just two or three. In round three I felt I hit the ball better than I did in round two. The course was really firming up and it was windier than the previous day and I had a couple of three putts.”
He also got a bit of luck on day one where he opened birdie-birdie but at the second he pushed his tee shot right and was lucky to find it.
He added: “It was one of those where you are walking towards the ball and thinking this could be a six. I thought it was going to be in the gorse.”
The ball was in the rough and he was able to get it to 15 feet, whereby he holed the putt for a three.
Further birdies followed at seven and 13 before he drained a 50-footer at 16 for another birdie.
The next day he started on the tenth and lost his way around the turn with double bogeys on 18th (his 9th) and the 3rd (his 12th). His back nine developed into something of a rollercoaster. It contained six threes, two fives and a six.
In the afternoon he started out nine clear and played percentage golf, notching just one birdie in a six-over-par 74.