Estonia’s Joonas Turba captured the English U16 Boys’ Championship for the McGregor Trophy after beating the English pair of Max Hopkins (Bishops Stortford) and Robin Williams (Peterborough Milton) by a stroke at Burnham & Berrow in Somerset.
Turba, who won the Finland U16 championship earlier in the season, dominated the 72-hole tournament from the start, sharing the lead after the first round, falling one shot behind after the second, then resuming top spot in the third round. Five under par after 36 holes, Turba’s scores rose in the windy conditions over the final day, with closing rounds of 74 and 75 proving good enough to take the title by the narrowest of margins.
“It is a good present for me,” said Turbe, who turned 16 during the tournament. “It is my second international title, and this is one of the biggest tournaments for under-16s.”
Turba didn’t have it all his own way over the closing holes, with Hertfordshire’s Max Hopkins making his move with one-under 70 in the third round. After nine holes of the final round the pair were tied, and Hopkins moved briefly ahead with a birdie on the 12th.
But the momentum swung back to Turbe when he birdied 14, while Hopkins bogeyed both that hole and the 15th. The gap narrowed again when Turbe had a three-putt bogey on the 16th, but he stood on the 18th tee knowing a par would win – and he duly delivered. His approach rolled through the green, but he putted up to within 2ft and holed the putt, showing his elation with an emphatic first pump. “The putt was scary, I’ve never had such a tense putt,” he said.
For Hopkins there was the compensation of winning the U15 trophy by three shots from Tom Gregory (Stoke Park), who shared fifth place overall with Enrique Dimayuga (Cuddington).