It’s been a quite a year for amateur golf in Great Britain and we asked some our leading players what were their stand-out moments and also asked them to look ahead to 2024
1) Your best round of the year and why?
My best round of the year was probably at The Berkshire when I shot -3 in the first round. I would say this was my best round of the year because I had been struggling all year to get under par, especially consistently, and the round itself also put me in a good position going into round 2 of The Astor Salver which I ended up winning. I was over the moon because, since moving out to America to play college golf in the states around four-and-a-half years ago, I hadn’t won a tournament.
2) Your best shot of the year and why?
The best shot of the year I’ve played probably had to be when I was playing the English Under-25s at Woburn. I was playing the third round and had pulled my shoulder earlier that morning. But I still went a head and played and I ended up shooting -3 somehow lol. The best shot was on 14, it was a short par five but with it being tight and a weird approach to the green sometimes it’s hard to get on in two depending on how far you hit it. I remember hitting my tee shot in the rough on the right side and I ended up having a tree over hanging in my way. I had a bad lie but managed to punch a great-but-painful rescue out and it ran up to the pin leaving myself a nice 12-foot putt, setting myself up for either a possible eagle or a birdie. I ended up missing the putt but still secured a birdie which at the time was big in order for me to move up the leaderboard, especially considering how I was feeling with my shoulder.
3) The best shot you saw and why?
The best shot of the year I probably saw was my Team mate Haley Yerxa from Canada (pictured above). She plays on my college team with me at Georgia Southern University, and we were playing our conference championship in the last round at LPGA International in FL. We were all watching her come in on 18 (which is a tight but short dog leg left — there are trees in the way/over hanging the green on your approach shot). She was in a bad position off the tee but still had a chance to just get the ball on the middle of the green. She hit a great wedge shot and the ball ended up going in the hole so she made an Eagle!
4) Your favourite moment of 2023 (this could be personal or something completely random but golf related)?
I think again my favorite moment had to be winning the Astor Salver over summer this year. It was great for a number of reasons:
• it was my first win in four years
• It was nice to be back home for the summer playing golf in England
• It was one of my first tournaments to play in the summer
• I reached my goal of trying to get deeper than one under and get a feel for shooting under par again
• Most importantly I had my dad on the bag! (This is very important to me because he is the one who got me into golf and it’s always nice to come back and travel with my dad to golf tournaments as I don’t get to do it much/haven’t got to do it much in the past 4 1/2 years since I’ve been away playing college golf in the US.
5) Your hopes and ambitions for 2024?
I still have a semester left at Georgia Southern before I graduate (I was an athlete during Covid so I ended up gaining an extra year as I missed out on a season, hence why I have managed to play almost five years of college golf instead of four years. I’m still doing my undergrad though as I decided to stretch my classes out instead of taking a masters so I’m looking to graduate “hopefully” in the spring semester of 2024 with a major in English/American Literature, and a minor in multimedia journalism) with that our last tournaments of the semester are, conference (then hopefully make it to regionals and then try and make it to nationals) so I guess I would….
1) Love to make the team for conference championships and hopefully gain a win and get another championship ring.
2) I would like to either have a top five finish (something which I have struggled with this year) or an individual win at a college tournament before I graduate.
3) Once I move back home to England after I graduate, I play on playing some England golf tournaments, try and get into the British Am and play some 2020 pro tour events. I guess it would also be nice to get a couple of wins or top finishes under my belt on home turf once I move back. I think overall just working on my game really as I would love to try and turn professional and play on the LET. The LET Access tour is something I am interested in and have played a couple of their events before which are really fun! So I’m looking forward to just improve and working on my game as best as I can to hopefully head in the right direction to turning professional one day down the line.
6) One thing you would change about about golf for next season?
I can’t really think of much but I guess one thing I would change would be having to hit your ball out of a divot.