Milan Reed’s excellent start to 2023 got a whole lot better at the weekend as the talented 18-year-old toughed it out to claim his first Gloucestershire Men’s County Championship.
FORMAT: 72-hole stroke play
The event has been dominated by evergreen Nick Day in recent years. The seven-time champion was looking for a hat-trick of victories after stellar efforts last year and in 2021, when he shot nine under in the final round.
Day, who won the English Men’s Champions of Champions last September, started with a solid 72 but struggled thereafter and it was Reed who came to the fore on the second day. A four-under 67 in round three meant he went from four back to four in front and a closing 75 was enough for him to win by five as the tough set-up at The Kendleshire meant there were a lot more bogeys than birdies.
Last month the Long Ashton youngster claimed a huge breakthrough victory in the Welsh Men’s Open Stroke Play and he admitted that his Southerndown success had moved the goalposts in terms of expectations.
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“It has been huge for me to get such a good start to the year,” said Reed, who also finished an impressive seventh at the Berkhamsted Trophy.
“The Welsh Open has really boosted my confidence and now every time I turn up, I feel I have a chance of winning.
“And to win the county one feels great. Gloucestershire has some big names and beating the likes of Nick Day is massive for me.”
At halfway the teenager was four back of his clubmate Nathan Moore, who made a blistering start on Saturday morning. He had two eagles on his front nine as he reached five under before eventually settling for 68 (-3). He backed it up with a 71 to lead Knowle’s Sam Sullivan by two.
The next day it was all change as Reed, who finished 12th in the event last year, hit top gear and he was six under after 14 holes of his third round, aided my some stunning hole-outs from distance.
At the sixth he roled one in from 45 feet and there were also brilliant birdies secured at the 8th (from 30 feet) and at the demanding 14th (40 feet).
The only downside was a three-putt on 17 and then finding water with his second at the last but, even with closing back-to-back bogeys, he was now four ahead of Sullivan. Moore recorded a 79 to drop back into the pack.
Reed added: “That third round was really good because they had grown the rough up pretty thick but I managed to largely avoid it and I was there to roll a few putts in.
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“The greens were also very bouncy and down wind it was so hard to hold them.”
The new leader was playing in the penultimate group on Sunday – with Sullivan just behind – and he held things together really well, getting back to level par for his round with a birdie on 13.
He dropped a shot at the next but the difficulty factor of the 455-yard par four meant he “wasn’t too annoyed”. A dropped shot at 16 was harder to take then 18 got the better of him again as he dunked his approach into the wet stuff for the second time in a day. This time he did not get up and down so a double to finish left him with an anxious wait to find out if he had done enough.
“I was a bit nervous regarding what was going on in the group behind.”
Reed had no idea that his nearest challenger had endured a rollercoaster of a round. Sullivan turned in 40 and even though he collected five birdies, the Knowle player came home in 76 (+5) to finish two shots ahead of third-placed Jake Phillips (Cotswold Hills).