Gerald Micklem Cup joy for Hampshire Mid-Am champion
FORMAT: 54-hole stroke play
Hampshire’s Toby Burden turned 35 in July but has already made quite an impression in Mid Am events, securing his third O-35s title in quick succession with victory in the illustrious Gerald Micklem Cup at Sunningdale.
Fresh from wins in the Hankley Common and Hampshire Mid-Ams, the Hayling player enjoyed a great battle with Woburn’s John Kemp before finally defeating the former professional at the second extra hole.
Both golfers had identical scores (72, 68, 71) to finish three ahead of England O-35s champion Stuart Archibald (Test Valley) and Lancashire’s Peter Finch, who had won the title on the previous two occasions.
Then, after both players parred the first in extra time, Burden found the par five 18th in two thanks to an excellent drive and two iron and got down in two for the trophy-winning birdie.
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The new champion said: “I played really solidly all three rounds and even when I had a run of poor scores at the start of the third round, I didn’t feel like I was doing much wrong.
“I kept the ball out of the heather and hit some really good shots coming in.”
Both Burden and Kemp started the final round a shot behind playing partner Finch, whose challenge petered out because of five bogeys in seven holes on the back nine.
In contrast Burden started to creep back towards the leader with a birdie on the 12th and then chipped in for a two at the 14th.
Playing the last it was a two-man battle and both Kemp and Burden birdied it, the latter getting up down from a green-side bunker while Kemp just missed with an eagle putt after stunning approach shot with his three wood.
Back down the first they went and it was not looking good for the Hampshire player as his birdie attempt from 18 feet slipped 12 feet past.
Burden added: “The funny thing was I thought I had hit a good putt and at halfway I was surprised to see how fast it was going. But the green was lightening and thankfully I managed to hole the one coming back.”
On the second extra hole Kemp found the thick stuff off the tee and he had to lay up before sticking his third to 18 feet.
With his playing partner on in two, the BB&O player needed to hole out having watched his title rival expertly cosy the ball up to two feet from 20 feet.
Earlier in the day Burden looked out for the count as he bogeyed six, seven, eight and ten to drop back to five over, three behind his playing partners.
However he found his rhythm after hitting one of his “worst ever shots” at the par three tenth.
Burded explained: “I am quite a technical player and I had been blocking my irons so tried to over exaggerate a draw and it went way left into the ferns.
“In the end I made a good bogey from 10/12 feet and I finally got going. I knew I could give myself chances and the day before had hit a lot of good shots, scoring well without really taking advantage of the par fives.”