It's the great escape as Paisley eases through
- Monday, 4 August 2008
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Chris Paisley, photo courtesy of Tom Ward
Five down after eight holes against boy cap Eddie Pepperell, the Northumberland lad forced the match to extra holes and as the rain poured down, secured his victory at the 20th. Paisley won four holes after the turn to reduced the gap to one hole but Pepperell won the 16th to go dormie.
However, Paisley pulled out the stops to win the 17th with a 50-foot birdie putt, then eagled the 18th from 15 feet to take the tie into extra time. They halved the 19th but Paisley birdied the 20th to go through.
“This has been a bit of a trend with me recently,” said Paisley. “I did it twice in the Amateur Championship but lost on the second occasion to Chris Wood at the fifth extra hole. Eddie was on fire at the start and didn’t do much wrong. He didn’t deserve to lose and 99 times out of 100 he would have beaten me. But that’s match play.”
The victory earned him a quarter finals tie with Matthew Nixon, British Boys champion in 2006, who will be eager for revenge after Paisley beat him in the English Amateur first round at Bromborough in 2005.
The 20 year old from Lancashire who overcame Jordan Gibb 2 and 1 in the morning then overwhelmed Peter Tarver-Jones after lunch, is well on course after reaching the quarter finals but was somewhat dazed at the end of the day.
“I hit the ball horrendously this morning and scrambled in a way that would have made Seve proud,” he said. “But I even surprised myself this afternoon. I’ve not played that well for a long time but I’m a good match player and can get away with my chipping and putting.”
Against Tarver-Jones, Nixon was 3-up through seven holes then hit his opponent with four successive winning birdies from the ninth to close out the match.
Luke Goddard also enjoyed a happy day. He ended Gary Wolstenholme’s hopes of landing this elusive title when he beat him 4 and 3 in round two, then got past local man Dave Coupland 3 and 2.
Having also beaten Wolstenholme to the South of England title by a shot last week, Goddard said: “Coming off that win I fell very confident. Not that I needed it as I’m usually confident and I feel I can win this. Danny Willett did it last year so I feel I can follow him.”
Goddard had five birdies against Wolstenholme and four more in the afternoon when he didn’t drop a shot.
He now meets Adam Keogh from Boston, who kept Lincolnshire hopes alive by beating Durham’s Michael Curry 2 and 1 and leading qualifier Jason Barnes by 2 holes.
Keogh is arguably the surprise package although he would argue with that. “It’s nice to play well and I’d have taken this at the start,” he said. “If I can play well in the next round we’ll see what happens.”
Barnes was philosophical. “You can’t win them all,” declared.
Someone else who enjoyed a superb day was Todd Adcock. The Sussex man put out Steven Uzzell in the morning then scalped another international in Sam Hutsby to reach the least eight.
In the all-Kent third round clash, Tom Sherreard needed 21 holes to shake off Matt Haines as the rain poured down. It was a fitting birthday present for Sherreard, who was celebrating his 21st, while Haines defeat meant there are no full England caps left in the championship.
The English Amateur Championship is sponsored by Your Golf Holidays. More information, news and daily scores can be found on the Championships section of the EGU website www.englishgolfunion.org.
