England International Gary Boyd triumphs in China

Young England international Gary Boyd (pictured left - photo courtesy of Tom Ward) came from five shots back to win the inaugural Asia Pacific Open Amateur Championship at Mission Hills in China.

A closing round of 71 for a level par aggregate of 288 left the 20 year old from Northamptonshire tied with Japan’s Ryutaro Nagano but Boyd took the title at the first playoff hole.

The pair finished a stroke ahead of Choo from Singapore and third round leader Anthony Fernando from the Philippines while veteran Walker Cup man Gary Wolstenholme finished down the field on 312.

Boyd, who lost only one of five matches when making his full England debut in September’s Home Internationals in Wales, trailed Fernando by five shots going into the final round over the 7,323 yard Mission Hills course in Shenzhen.

But while Fernando was posting a closing 77, Boyd was making up ground fast. He was out in 35, one under par, with birdies at the sixth and seventh holes, while an eagle-three at the long 11th proved the key despite his dropping shots at the short 15th and par four 18th.

In the playoff on the par four tenth hole, both Boyd and Nagano had putts from around six feet but while the Japanese missed, Boyd holed out for his first major international title.

Boyd, a member of England’s Elite Squad, has reached the quarter finals of the English Amateur Championship for the past two years and was a semi-finalist in the Spanish Amateur Championship earlier this year.

Leading final scores:
288 G Boyd (England) 72 76 69 71, R Nagano (Japan) 74 71 69 74
(Boyd won playoff at first extra hole)
289 T H Choo (Singapore) 70 73 71 75, A Fernando (Philippines) 71 70 71 77
294 J Chakola (India) 71 77 73 73, R Kulacz (Australia) 73 72 73 76
Other scores:
299 C Evans (Wales) 75 70 77 77
312 G Wolstenholme (England) 81 78 76 77

December 4, 2006

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