Unfamiliarity breeds contentment for in-form Clare

15/04/2022

Unfamiliar venues are proving no barrier to success for in-form Jamie Clare in the Titleist and FootJoy Assistants and Turier Scales-supported Under 30s Sprint Series Order of Merit.

Having won the second event in the Series at Radyr, a venue he had not played before, the Year One Trainee followed suit at Knighton Heath, Bournemouth, to win the third.

Add to that coming second in the Series opener at Minehead and West Somerset and Clare has established a commanding lead in the chase to win the Order of Merit.

He now leads Forest Hills Golf Club’s Jamie Dick by 85 points with two events remaining but, with a victory worth 100 points, he is far from being home and hosed.

And had Dick not bogeyed the 17^th after moving to within a shot of his rival from Long Sutton Golf Club, Somerset, after 16, the result could have been very different.

In the event, Clare prevailed by a shot with a two-under par round of 68 to finish a shot ahead of Dick and two clear of Mendip Spring’s Peter Trego.

All of which was at odds with Clare’s inauspicious start.

“I got off to a slow start with bogeys at two and three but felt I should be able to turn things round on the back nine,” he reflected.

He certainly did that - recording four birdies on the bounce from 12 to 15, testament perhaps to his pre-round preparation.

“I hadn’t played this course before,” he explained. “So I did a little bit of research online – using Google Earth and looking at the club’s website to determine what I’d be hitting off the tee and made a game plan before I started.

“I had to adjust that when I found out how tight the course was but it worked out alright!”

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