REECE BLAIR, ALICE HEWISON WIN SE ENGLAND SCHOOLS TITLES

A birdie 3 at the tenth, his final hole, enabled Reece Blair to pip his Bedfordshire colleague Sam Flannery and win En gland's South East Schools Boys Championship at Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk.

It saw Blair, pictured after receiving his trophy, sign for a second round 76 and a 36-hole total of 149, five over par, one better than Flannery, who also closed with 76, and two clear of third placed Alex Fellas, who came up on the rails with a best-of-the-round 73.

On a day of brilliant sunshine and occasional heavy showers, Blair, 15, from the Cedars Upper School in Leighton Buzzard, beat his handicap of five in both rounds and led at lunch with an opening 73.

“I’m delighted to have won,” he said. “I knew I could win if I played to my potential but coming down the stretch I thought I’d let my chance go.”

But the birdie at the 373-yard tenth proved decisive. “If I hadn’t secured that Sam would have beaten me on countback,” added Blair, who can now look forward to a cut in his handicap.

Three-handicap Flannery, one behind at halfway, matched Blair’s 76, while Norfolk’s Fellas, off four, wasa five behind after an opening 78 but climbed the leaderboard with his fine 73.

Norfolk won the Team event – the best three scores from four to count – with 457, just one ahead of close rivals Suffolk with Essex third on 461.

The Girls championship was nothing like as close at the boys’, Alice Hewson from Berkhamsted School in Hertfordshire signing for 145, three under par, seven strokes better than runner-up and defending champion Amber Ratcliffe from Norfolk.

Hewson, off two handicap, fired an opening 73 and cemented her grip on the championship with a two-under-par 72, the highlight of which was an eagle-three at the 421-yard 17^th.

Not that her second round began well. She double-bogeyed her opening hole but erased that setback with two birdies allied to that eagle.

“My goal was to qualify for the National Championship but to win is amazing and I’ll get my handicap cut as well,” said the 14 year old who has finished runner-up in the Hertfordshire Ladies Championship for the past two years.

Her victory anchored Hertfordshire to victory in the Team competition where the best two scores from three counted.

Hertfordshire finished on 305, two better than Essex with Bedfordshire on 319.

The leading ten in the boys championship and the top five girls qualified for the National Championship at The Kendleshire in Bristol on June 25^th.

Leading final scores:

Boys:

149 R Blair (Cedars Upper, Beds) 73 76

150 S Flannery (Lea Manor High, Beds) 74 76

151 A Fellas (Easton College, Norfolk) 78 73

152 H Campbell (Epping Forest College, Essex) 78 74, J Nicholson (King Edwards VI Upper, Suffolk) 78 74, M Fosker (Suffolk New College, Suffolk) 78 74, S O’Brien (Philip Morant, Essex) 76 76, C Sherwood (Easton College, Norfolk) 75 77

153 L Baker (Mayflower, Essex) 76 77, S Stevens (Easton College, Norfolk) 78 76

Girls:

145 A Hewson (Berkhamsted, Herts) 73 72

152 A Ratcliffe (Sheringham High, Norfolk) 76 76

154 D Sverdloff (S.E.E. Vic 6^th Form College, Essex) 77 77

156 E Ofstedahl (Harlington Upper, Beds) 80 76, A Greenham (Forest, Essex) 75 81

158 L Kent (Thurston Upper, Suffolk) 81 77, G Blackman (Anglo European, Essex) 80 78

Teams
 Boys:
457 Norfolk; 458 Suffolk; 461 Essex; 472 Bedfordshire; 484 Hertfordshire.
Girls:
 305 Hertfordshire; 307 Essex; 319 Bedfordshire; 325 Norfolk; 329 Suffolk