The Sunningdale Foursomes once again delivered one of the most entertaining weeks in the early season calendar, combining elite amateurs, tour professionals and high-profile sporting celebrities in a unique alternate-shot knockout format over four breezy spring days at Sunningdale Golf Club in Berkshire
First played in 1934, the historic tournament remains one of the few elite competitions in the game where amateurs and professionals, men and women, can compete together in any pairing combination. Each year the field includes a decent turnout of tour pros young and old, former Ryder Cup and Solheim Cup players, leading amateurs and well-known sporting personalities.
TEENS ON TOP
The 92nd staging of the championship concluded with victory for England U18 squad members Jamie McGeoch (The Berkshire) and Ellie Lichtenhein (Sunningdale), who saw off the challenge of PGA professionals Jordan Loft (Prince’s) and Jamie Dick (Forest Hills) by 3&2 in Friday’s final on Sunningdale’s Old Course.
The championship match, which was played over 18 holes, was finely balanced through the front nine, with Loft and Dick edging ahead early and holding a slender one-hole lead after 10 holes, despite having to give five shots to their younger rivals.
However, 18-year-old McGeoch and 16-year-old Lichtenhein produced a decisive surge over the closing holes, with a sequence of wins at 11, 14 and 15 swinging the momentum firmly in their favour. They ultimately closed out the contest with a par at the par-4 16th to seal the title with two holes remaining.
Their decisive victory capped an impressive week in which the teenage pair demonstrated the teamwork and composure required in foursomes golf, where alternate shots place a premium on accuracy and course management. For Lichtenhein in particular, who is just 16 years old, the victory represents one of the most significant wins of her young amateur career.
STAR-STUDDED FIELD
As has become tradition, the Sunningdale Foursomes attracted a diverse and high-profile field that extended far beyond the professional golf ranks.
Among the celebrity competitors was former world No.1 tennis player Andy Murray, who teamed up with two-time DP World Tour winner Eddie Pepperell. Murray, who plays off 0.7, and his pro partner pulled off a comprehensive 6&5 win in the first round, watched by a gallery of over 200 spectators. But even the massed ranks of The Chipping Forecast fans – Pepperell’s side-hustle podcast – and tennis groupies weren’t enough to see the pair get past the second round where they lost 2down to the Yorkshire duo of Frankie and Luca Holgate.
Another big sporting name in the draw was Gareth Bale, with the former Real Madrid and Wales football star partnering English amateur Matthew Wylie. Bale, who has become a familiar presence at pro-am events since his retirement, also attracted big galleries during the opening round, but he too suffered an early exit after former European Tour player Simon Wakefield and his partner PGA Professional Jamie Roach dished out a 3&2 win to send Bale and Wylie packing.
The women’s professional game was also strongly represented, with women’s world no.5 Charley Hull making another appearance at the event, this time partnering with Welsh professional Ryan Evans. Hull and Evans were among the favourites heading into the week, and they made smooth progress through the top half of the draw before coming up against James Ruth and Paul Hendriksen in the fourth round, which saw Hull and her partner go down 4&3.
Other notable names in the field included Robert Rock, Marc Warren and Richard McEvoy, while current DP World Tour players Callum Shinkwin and Sam Bairstow were part of a strong professional contingent.
But it was two rising stars of the amateur game, Jamie McGeoch and Ellie Lichtenhein, who ended the week lifting one of amateur golf’s most distinctive trophies, writing their names into the long and distinguished history of the Sunningdale Foursomes.
For all the scores, visit www.sunningdalegolfclub.co.uk/sunningdale_foursomes
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