Ellis fights back to earn his trip to Augusta
Harry Ellis said his late mother would look out for him in the final of the Amateur Championship and it certainly seemed there was a higher power at work as the Englishman produced a dramatic fightback to earn dream berths at the Masters and the Open.
The 21-year-old from Hampshire was one-up after 21 holes, but then lost four holes in quick succession and appeared doomed when he went four down with five to play and then three down with three to play against Dylan Perry in the 36-hole shoot-out at Sandwich. But the Australian wobbled with three closing bogeys and made a hash of the second extra hole to hand the title to Ellis.
As harsh as it was for Perry, there was no doubting the deep joy it brought to Ellis, who can now book a hotel near Royal Birkdale next month for a date with Rory McIlroy and Co in the season’s third major and then at that golfing fantasyland in Augusta next April.
Ellis became only the third player to achieve the double of the English Amateur Championship and the Amateur Championship. However, not only did he emulate two of the game’s great amateurs in Sir Michael Bonallack and Michael Lunt, he did so at a younger age. It is another record for Ellis, who, when he was 16, broke the English Amateur “youngest” mark set by Sir Nick Faldo.
Big things were predicted after that triumph in 2012, but tragedy meant it did not work out as planned.
Ellis’s mother, Tracy, passed away from cancer the next year and, griefstricken, Ellis set off for Florida State University, one of the best teams on the collegiate circuit which produced Brooks Koepka, last Sunday’s US Open winner. It was a difficult and emotional experience for Ellis and only this season is he fulfilling that potential.
Ellis’s short-game has been vastly improved in the last 18 months. However, it was his competitive spirit that won the day and gave Hampshire their second Amateur champion in a row, after Scott Gregory 12 months ago.
“It’s surreal to think I’m in the Open next month and then the Masters and the US Open,” Ellis said. “I’ve had several things to overcome and learn from. My time in America has made me grow up and I’m much more mature as a golfer. I didn’t give up today. My mother is up there looking after me.”
Sergio García is a former Amateur winner, and the Spaniard restated his class at the BMW International Open with a 67 which took him to 13-under and into a share of the lead with England’s Richard Bland. It is often said that the first victory after a major breakthrough is important and García might only have to wait five events after his Masters glory in April.
What has made the 37-year-old’s performance all the more commendable was the fact he has been suffering from back pain all week. The García of old might have bemoaned his luck, but he is a different character since Augusta. “I don’t think I’m a better player than I was before I won the Green Jacket, but I am a more confident player,” he said.
Yet it is a quality and congested leaderboard with 15 players within two shots of the lead, including Henrik Stenson and Tommy Fleetwood on eight-under after a 72 and 70 respectively.