Archie heads west as amateur champ
AS Archie Davies prepares to head stateside he will do so as the new Welsh Amateur champion.
The 18-year-old burgeoning talent bagged his first senior title – and in style – at Tenby with a crushing 8&7 victory over Aberdovey’s Connor Jones in the final.
This victory in the top domestic event in Welsh men’s amateur golf maintains a family sporting tradition as Davies’ great-grandfather played rugby for Wales against New Zealand.
Davies is this week back in west Wales competing representing his country in the Boys Home Internationals at Ashburnham.
He will then tee it up at the British Boys Amateur in north
Devon next week before heading to
America to study at
East Tennessee University.
“This is definitely the biggest win of my career,” said Davies who, last year, lifted the Irish Boys crown.
“It was different to winning the Irish Boys, though that was my first proper win. I feel I have developed my game a lot since then, playing a lot of men’s events this year but I have not had the results I wanted.
“It is awesome to get this win, my biggest, though I felt it was coming because I had been playing better and better in recent weeks.
“I had A Levels through to midJune and then went straight into tournaments after that, it was quite tricky coming into competitions straight after exams. At the end of last week I found something which I took into this week and I played better and better through the rounds.”
Davies, who plays out of Carlisle golf club, qualified third from the stroke play rounds on one over par Pictured, left to right: Runner-up Connor Jones, Nick Allen (captain of Tenby Golf Club) and new Welsh Amateur champion Archie Davies
(141), shooting 71 and then a 70.
Ben Chamberlain of Padeswood and Buckley and Celtic Manor’s Lewys Sanges were the joint leading qualifiers on four-under.
Davies’ closest battles were in the first two matchplay rounds, beating Jacob Davies (Rhuddlan) and then Ronan Oliver (Pyle and Kenfig) on the last.
He saw off Southerndown’s Kieron Harman 4&3 in the quarterfinal and Shaun Harpin (Rhos-onSea) 5&4 in the semis – before sealing the deal emphatically against Jones in their 36-hole final.
“The first two rounds were tough, but match play is like that and I was grinding out the results to get the job done,” said Davies.
“I really like Tenby as a course, it was in great condition. Some of the fairways were a bit burnt out, but that’s links golf and the greens were awesome.
“Playing for Wales in recent
weeks has helped too, it has helped with my belief because after those experiences I was more used to an event like this and the people I was playing against.
“I have been learning the whole year, looking to move on. It is a really exciting few weeks coming up.
“It probably hasn’t fully sunk in I am going to the States because there is still a lot of golf to play, but it will be great playing all year round rather than training in the winter and packing it all into the summer.”
Meanwhile, Welsh golfer Phillip Price had cause for a double celebration on Sunday when lifting the Staysure PGA Seniors Championship at London Golf Club.
Not only was it his second European Senior Tour title in three years but the first silverware of his glittering golfing career when having his two children watching on from the sidelines.
The 2002 Ryder Cup star, who downed then world No.2 Phil Mickelson in the final day singles at The Belfry, recorded rounds of 67-66-71 and a final round of 67, five under par, to win the championship by two-shots ahead of New Zealand’s former US Open champion Michael Campbell, South Africa’s James Kingston and Australian Peter Lonard.
With Campbell, Kingston and Lonard unable to match the Welshman’s total, Price was crowned champion to become the first player from Wales to win the event since Brian Huggett in 1993.
“This win is a little nicer than the first one,” he said.
“I’ve had my wife and two children here with me, and the children haven’t seen me win anything so that made it special.
“It’s nice to have them both here and really nice to see me win something.”