Faldo Series UK Championship

Adam Wilson stormed to an impressive four shot victory at the Faldo Series UK Championship at the Vale of Glamorgan, the penultimate UK event on this year’s Faldo Series Europe schedule.

The promising 16 year-old from Mold Golf Club, Flintshire, North Wales, recorded two consecutive level par rounds of 73 to finish four shots ahead of England’s James Foster and Ben Stow in the race for the overall title and also to claim an eleven shot victory over another Englishman, Jordan Williams, in the Boys’ Under-16 age group category.

Wilson’s reward is a trip to the 14th Faldo Series Europe Grand Final, to be hosted by six-time Major winner Sir Nick Faldo at the Lough Erne Resort, Co. Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, on September 21-23.  He will be joined by Foster, who defeated Stow after a sudden-death play-off for the Boys’ Under-21 title, as well as by the other age group winners, Billy Downing (Boys’ Under-18), Katie Burman (Girls’ Under-21) and Jessica Evans (Girls’ Under-16).

Once at Lough Erne, the Home of the Faldo Series Europe, Wilson and the other winners at Vale of Glamorgan will come up against a strong international field comprising the overall and age group winners from the other 17 events on this year’s Faldo Series Europe schedule which is supported by The R&A, the European Tour and Lough Erne Resort.

That field will include the winners from the eight other UK Championships in England and Scotland, which are also backed by the PGA, plus other events as far afield as Northern Ireland, Brazil, Germany, The Netherlands, Russia, Greece, Poland and Slovakia.

Masamichi Ito, a hugely promising 14 year-old from Japan, and 17 year-old Thai girl, Thidapa Suwannapura, have also been invited to the R&A World Amateur Golf Ranking event, as the winners of the Boys’ and Girls’ titles at the recent Faldo Series Asia Grand Final, staged at Mission Hills, China.

All the competitors at this year’s Faldo Series Europe Grand Final will be following in the footsteps of the likes Rory McIlroy, Nick Dougherty, Marc Warren, Oliver Fisher, Melissa Reid and Florentyna Parker, each of whom teed up in more than one Faldo Series Europe Grand Final before using those experiences to help them forge successful professional careers.

This year’s Faldo Series Europe has witnessed some commanding performances, none more so than the one produced by Wilson, who overcame difficult conditions to record a level par 36-hole aggregate score of 146 and claim first place at Vale of Glamorgan.

Wilson dropped two shots over the closing two holes of his opening round but then got back on track with a birdie on the 571-yard par-5 2nd hole the following morning. He dropped a shot at the next hole but then birdied the 177-yard par-3 8th to go out in level par 37 before coming home in 36 with birdies at the 12th and 15th and bogeys at the 13th and 16th.

Wilson’s fine performance also gave him a remarkable 11 shot victory over Williams in the Boys’ Under-16 age group category after the latter had posted rounds of 78 and 79 to finish two shots ahead of third-placed Ryan Thomas on 157.

The closest contest came in the Boys’ Under-21 event where James Foster carded rounds of 77 and 73 to tie compatriot, Ben Stow, who posted rounds of 73 and 77. Foster went on to use the impetus he had built up in the second round to defeat his rival in the subsequent sudden-death play-off. Third place in that category went to Thomas Fox, who opened with an impressive two under par 71 but faltered to an 81 on the second day.

Downing recorded rounds of 78 and 76 to claim a single shot victory over Sonny Wilkinson in the Boys’ Under-18 event while Burman fired an 80 and a 79 to finish eight shots ahead of Sarah-Jane Boyd in the Girls’ Under-21 category. The Girls’ Under-16 event resulted in Evans posting rounds of 80 and 76 to emerge with a six shot advantage over Jessica Kaimakami.

For further information about  the Faldo Series  please visit www.nickfaldo.com.