JOE Buenfeld, from Romsey, shot his lowest competitive round at Stoneham to win the Southampton club’s Stoneham Trophy – and rounded off his victory with a hole-in-one in his second round.

A stunning 64 in the opening round gave the Bramshaw GC member a six-shot lead at lunch.

But his second round ace at the eighth came after successive bogeys as Stoneham’s former Hampshire Junior Champion Alex Talbot mounted a charge down the back nine.

Buenfeld dropped two shots at the par-three 10th before burst of three birdies in a row from the 12th left him four shots clear on 11-under.

Talbot responded, making three at the short 13th and eagling the 14th to get to six-under in total.

The leader finished with two bogeys to post nine-under, leaving Talbot needing an eagle on the last to force extra holes.

Back-to-back birdies for Talbot’s own 64 marked a turning point after three difficult years at Boise State, even if he was disappointed to end up a shot shy.

Victory for Buenfeld was his second Order of Merit win of the season, having claimed the Pechell Salver as the leading qualifier at the Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Channel Islands Amateur Championship, at Hockley, in June.

But the Texas-based US college golfer will miss out on the chance of claiming the Cullen Quaich awarded to the leading player at the end of the domestic season, as jetted back to San Antonio this week.

The 21-year-old – who lost last year’s county championship final against his best friend, James Freeman, at Stoneham – felt his play had been trending well since his return from the States at the end of May.

Joe, who lives in Romsey, said: “I have played quite well in my second year in Texas, without quite matching the success of last year.

“I had two top fives in eight events, and finished 19th at the end-of-season Southland Conference.

“Since I got home, I have been playing steadily with the results generally heading in the right direction after I won the Pechell Salver at the county champs.”

Buenfeld has become a fixture in the Hampshire South East League team over the last three summers, and was joint lowest scorer in Hampshire’s South East Qualifier when captain Lawrence Cherry’s six-man team were runners-up to Kent, last month. 

And having finished third in the English U25s Championship at Woburn in the build-up to the Six-man qualifier, it was no surprise to see Buenfeld bag his first Stoneham Trophy.

Joe said: “I played very steadily and it’s always nice to have a bogey-free card, especially when you shoot a low one.

“I got to the turn and made those three in a row, and did start to think a bit about how low I could go. It does cross your mind, but it didn’t really affect me.”

The quality of the round was emphasised by the fact Buenfeld was the only player to break 70 in the 60-strong field of nearly all the best amateurs in Hampshire.

Indeed, last year’s English Mid-Amtaeur Champion Stuart Archibald, from Test Valley, was the only other player to break par with his 71.

Archibald and Buenfeld were paired in the same three-ball and the lunchtime leader traded two early birdies with two dropped shots in the first seven holes.

Buenfeld responded in style with his ace hitting an eight-iron 155 yards into the wind for the fourth hole-in-one of his career, having made his first aged 11.