STONEHAM’S Joe Buenfeld’s dream of reaching the English Amateur Championship final to emulate Hampshire’s Walker Cup stars Harry Ellis and Scott Gregory, was dashed by eventual winner Henry Styles from Essex.
The Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Channel Islands Amateur Champion had stormed into the last eight with two breezy performances having survived a fright in the first round of the matchplay knockout at Hoylake, the course which has hosted The Open Championship three times since 2006.
But with the winds whipping across the Irish Sea starting to strengthen by the time of Saturday morning’s quarter-final, Buenfeld found himself up against it from the off.
The 23-year-old, from Romsey, was peppered by birdies from last year’s Great Britain and Ireland junior international, who had only sneaked into the matchplay phase by qualifying in 61st place, with the top 64 progressing after a 36-hole qualifier at Hoylake and nearby Wallasey, earlier in the week.
But having gone four-up thanks to birdies at the fourth and fifth and a couple of errors from the University of the Incarnate Word graduate, who spent the last five years in Texas, there was more pain to come.
Styles rolled in a 45-footer to leave Buenfeld staring at the barrel of a gun at six-down after just nine holes.
It was merely delaying the inevitable as Joe got one of those holes back after the turn, but three pars in a row saw Styles shaking his hand and heading for an early lunch in the clubhouse, to prepare for the afternoon semi-final.
Joe said: “I had been playing really well on Friday. I was two-down after two in the second round but then I got on a heater. I had been struggling with the right-to-left shots in qualifying, and the first round of the knockout.
“But by the second it was good, and I had my ball flight under control,” added Buenfeld, who lost in the quarter-final three years ago to Hampshire team-mate Charlie Forster, who is on the verge of a Walker Cup call-up to face America at Cypress Point, in September.
Joe – who took the 59th seed in the draw after a level par 71 at Hoylake and a 70 at Wallasey – almost had to check out of his accommodation on Thursday night.
He found himself three-down with five to play in the first round against Sussex’s Joshua Hayes. But Buenfeld won the 14th with a par, birdied the 15th – after hitting his eight-iron into the par-three stiff – and made a two-putt birdie at the par-five 16th, to draw level.
He then won the penultimate hole with a par to take the lead, before boxing a putt of more than 20 feet to go two-up and secure his place in the last 32.
Buenfeld beat Cheshire’s Cole Self 5&4 in the second round, before sending Frilford Heath’s Harry Thomas back down the M6 to Oxfordshire after dashing his dream of causing in a shock in a competition that has been won over the last 25 years by Paul Casey, Danny Willett and Tommy Fleetwood.
Buenfeld, who began as a junior at Bramshaw, added: “Henry is a very, very confident young man. And once those early birdies dropped there was no stopping him unfortunately. It was not my year – at least I lost to the eventual champion.”
But the former Hartpury College pupil, who won the Sky TV-televised European Junior Open in 2019, was still happy with his catalogue of work over the summer.
He said: “Coming home from Texas in May after graduating, I finished second in the Berkshire Trophy, missed out on the Lagonda Trophy at Gog Magog by the narrowest of margins – and then won the county championship a week later at Shanklin & Sandown.
“To reach the last eight of the English Amateur on top, I think that’s a big step in the right direction.
“The irony is that I was in the last group for the final round of the Lagonda – with Henry just in front. We both had chances to win it but were both a shot short at the death.
“I think finishing second in the Berkshire, which historically is one of England’s most important 72-hole strokeplay events, proved to me I really could compete against the best.
“The Lagonda was pretty disappointing to make a bogey at the last – I was leading with a couple of holes to go – but again I really wanted to win a Sloane-Stanley Challenge Cup before I think about turning pro, and I did that having gone so close in the final three years ago.
“So I have to be happy with that.”
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