Barclay wrestles record from tour star Danny as he wins Sheffield Amateur Championship
As if winning the Sheffield Open Amateur Championship wasn’t enough, Barclay Brown did it in some style, too - breaking a record held by PGA Tour star Danny Willett for over 11 years.
Brown clinched the prize with a three-under-par 139 over two rounds at Sheffield’s Hallamshire course. What’s more, at 14 years of age, he is two years younger than Willett when he became the tournament’s youngest-ever winner in 2004.
“I played pretty good all day and the putts dropped on the fast and smooth greens,” said the new champion afterwards.
GLORIOUS
Brown scored a one-over 72 in the morning round, with 17 pars and one bogey on his card.
That saw him tied for first at the halfway stage along with three others but, in glorious sunshine, the teen turned up the heat, carding a superb 67 to beat runner-up, Rotherham’s Jamie Harrison, by five shots.
After a steady front nine in his second round, Brown eagled the 14th and bounced back from a bogey at the 16th with consecutive birdies to finish.
The Birkdale pupil has already compiled a rather impressive CV, having represented Yorkshire and England U16s. He also won the North of England U14s last August and has featured in the top 20 in the English U14 and U16s Boys’ Championships.
He held off a field comprising 60 of the best players in the north of England and beyond to win the Sheffield Plate, which was back on the schedule that year and having been postponed last year due to flooding.
ACHIEVEMENT
Needless to say Brown would be delighted to emulate the achievement’s of the man whose record he has just broken.
A year after winning the Sheffield Plate, Willett was picked to represent G&I in the Jacques Leglise Trophy. In 2007, he won the English Amateur Championship and played in the Walker Cup at Royal County Down. The following March, he climbed to No.1 on the men’s World Amateur Golf Rankings before turning professional in May of that year.
Since then, he has won twice on the European Tour and finished third in this year’s WGC-Cadillac Matchplay Championship, earning special temporary membership on the PGA Tour for the remainder of the season. He is currently inside the world’s top 40.
Read the latest issue of UK Club Golfer online
