OSBORNE’S HOT STREAK

Lindrick’s Tom Osborne’s started his 2023 campaign in red-hot form, with a win and a placing in two of the British amateur game’s most prestigious tournaments.

Lifting the Duncan Putter at Southerndown in Wales should have come as no surprise however. The signs were all there after he defied the wet and gloomy March conditions to shoot a terrific 59 on his home course. The 21-year-old was on a streak, having taken the Lindrick track apart with a 61 the day before.

His 59 included a back-9 of just 28 strokes, with an eagle and six birdies.

The 72-hole win at Southerndown came in mid-April after he had finished a strong 5th in the 62nd staging of the Berkhamsted Trophy on the first weekend of the month.

Tough conditions on Southerndown’s challenging heathland links in South Wales meant scoring was never going to be stellar in the final round.

Osborne held his nerve and kept his game together to finish two ahead of Glamorganshire’s Tom Savill.

“Once the wind got up my goal in the final round was to shoot around level or one over,” said Osborne, who was also delighted to have secured World Amateur Golf Ranking points.

“The first six holes are really tough and I managed to play them in one under so I thought I had probably picked up a couple of shots on the field and then I managed to finish well.

“It was really important to me to get WAGR points because I missed out on a lot of competitions last season so hopefully now this means I will play in some of the bigger ones.”

Osborne had gone into the final round one shot adrift of fellow Yorkshireman Jack Whaley (Rotherham), and his closing 73 was enough to get the job done, with a closing 78 dropping Whaley down to 5th place.

On an afternoon when none of the remaining 38-strong field broke par, Osborne dug deep to escape with a par on 17 thanks to some terrific short game play and then at 18, playing directly into the wind, he found the green in regulation and got his par to seal the win by two shots.

Garforth’s Jake Wallis was in a group of four golfers tied for 7th with a four-round total of 295. Jake Sowden from The Oaks also made the 36-hole cut and finished a further four shots back.

Osborne had placed 5th in the prestigious Berkhamsted Trophy in which Whaley (14th) and Romanby’s Ben Brown (18th) also featured.