Burden’s stellar run ends with Stoneham defeat
It had to happen some time, but Toby Burden’s stellar run in the Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Channel Islands Amateur Championship came to an end in the quarter-finals at Stoneham.
Last year, the Hayling ace reached a third final in a row – the first player to have done so since European Tour veteran winner Richard Bland.
After two final defeats in 2006 and 2009, Burden finally claimed the biggest prize in amateur golf in the county in 2019, having spent six years as a mini-tour pro.
And over the next two years, he was only beaten by birdies on the last, firstly by clubmate Richard Harris and then by Jersey’s Jo Hacker.
Having made it into the top 16 by finishing in seventh place on two-under par, thanks to rounds of 72 and 70, Burden faced Test Valley’s Jamie Fluen.
He moved into the last eight despite having trailed to the plus-one player from north of the county three times in the match – and twice by two holes - before eventually winning 2&1.
In the quarter-final, he faced Stoneham’s Harrison Pake, who was not frightened of taking on the big guns, having already knocked out newly-crowned Hampshire Youths Champion Jamie Markwick 4&3.
Burden raced into a threehole lead after just three holes with a birdie and two pars.
But amid some scrappy golf , Pake clawed back two holes in a row with nothing better than a par.
After a Burden birdie at 11, a mistake at the short parfour 13th gave Pake another lifeline. And the Stoneham player, who sells advertising for a local radio station during the week, broadcast his intentions by winning the par-five 14th with a birdie.
That gave him the lead for the first time, but the crucial blow to Burden’s title hopes came on 16 when a delicate chip from just off the green bit on the fringe and stuck.
That bogey four meant Burden had to make a three on the penultimate hole to stand any chance of taking the match down the 19th .
But he saw his 20-footer for a three go by the hole on the right and dive left.
Two putts from 15 feet were all Pake needed to reach the last four, and complete an all-Stoneham semi-final lineup against eventual winner James Freeman.
In-form US college star Joe Buenfeld, a former Junior European Open winner, beat Ryan Moody in the other semi, before losing to his best friend Freeman in the final.
Freeman, who won the Hampshire Youths title at Hayling two years ago, to go with his two Hampshire Junior titles won in 2018 and 2020, was eight-under par for 21 holes.
That was one better than Buenfeld, who could only shake his former college room-mate’s hand warmly as Freeman hit his 90-yard approach to kick-in range on the third extra hole, in one of the best finals in living memory.
Rowlands Castle’s Darren Wright snuck into the matchplay thanks to a fine 70 in the second round, having opened with a 75.
Wright could not progress beyond the first round. He was four-down after seven against Moody, who claimed the Pechell Salver for the leading qualifying score on eight-under.