National Final 2006

Sunday 8th October 2006 

Max and Jamie-Leigh crowned Champions

After a stunning National Final held at the Warwickshire Golf & Country Club, Max Orrin and Jamie-Leigh Voss (pictured right) have emerged as the 2006 YMG Junior Masters Champions.

The superb Kings Course at The Warwickshire was the tough challenge for the 120 boys and girls who had qualified for the National Final at events up and down the the UK and Ireland during July and August.

Playing a flag-golf format, youngsters were allocated a set number of shots dependent on their age and then played the 5,500 yard course until they had used all their strokes.

Despite the beautifully prepared course playing extremely long in damp conditions, there was some awe-inspiring golf from the youngsters in all age groups, with more than a dozen players making it past the 18th hole with their shot allocation.

Max goes one better
Included in these was 11 year-old Max Orrin (right) from the North Foreland Golf Club in Kent, who used his shots to get all the way to the 20th green. Having finished runner-up in last year's YMG Juniors Masters, Max was determined to make the title his this year and in a stunning display of controlled golf made it all the way to the 20th green, finishing a full hole ahead of the rest of the field to claim the overall title of YMG Junior Masters Boys Champion 2006.

Jamie-Leigh's winning putt
The battle for the girls' crown was extremely tense with the result only being settled on the 18th green when 12 year-old Jamie-Leigh Voss (right) from the Western Park Golf Club saw her final putt drop into the hole to secure her the title of YMG Junior Masters Girls Champion 2006. She just pipped Freya Barksby from the Gainsborough, whose last shot just fell shot of the hole.

It was a brilliant performance from both players, as they were also chased all the way by a gaggle talented young golfers, including Jamie-Leigh's big older sister Leavi, Lucy Goddard, Olivia Winning, Kyra Horlock and 8 year-old Fay Carpenter, all of whom finished the day just a short distance behind on the 18th fairway.

Titantic struggle for the 13+ boys
But there were outstanding performances throughout the field and the overall standard of play was exceptional. In the 13+ Age Category, there was a great struggle between Andrew Stevenson and David Orrin, who both made it all the way to the 19th green with Andrew shading it for the category win by ending up closest to the hole.

They were chased hard by the titantic struggle between Darren McClelland, Dan Gosling, Luke Rawling and John Burnett, who all ended their day on the 18th green, with Darren collecting the 3rd place trophy by virtue of the fact that he holed his final shot.

Perserverance...
With the overall girl and boy champions both coming from the 11-12 year old category, there was still plenty to fight for to see who would win the first place category trophy. After several years of perserverance, Ryan Thomas showed his considerable skill to emerge victorious after a close battle with Bradley Bull and James Morrell, while Freya Barksby took the category win in the 11-12 girls, ahead of Kenzie McLaren and Michaela Chivers.

High standard
The 9-10 categories shown some tremendous tussles and an incredibly high standard of golf throughout the field. In the end, Josh Knight (above) took the boys win, finishing on the 19th green, while Ben Court, Ross Dutton and Joe Brooks were never far behind on the 19th fairway.

The girls too showed their excellent form as Olivia Winning and Kyra Horlock battled it out all the way to the 18th fairway, before olivia eventually triumphed.

Great form
The 7-8 year olds were in great form too, as Fay Carpenter (right) made it to top spot ahead of Eloise Healey and Ella Ofstedahl in a great, while Greg Denton and Aidan Kovenklioglu fought all the way to the 19th fairway before Greg was able to step ahead for the win. Meanwhile, Andrew Hooper wasn't too far behind as he finished on the 18th green for 3rd.

Fantastic play from the 6 and unders
Meanwhile, in the Boys 6 and under category, the 19th green was the place where Joshua Davenport (left) secured victory, as he headed a superb field of youngsters who impressed everyone with their fantastic play. Jonathan Gerrish wasn't far behind in second as he made it to the 18th fairway with his 90 shots, while Jamie Pickering just edged out Harry Goddard on the 17th green to take third.

Meant business
Finally, the youngest girls showed them meant business on the golf course with some great play, as little Megan Dennis emerged victorious, one hole ahead of Martha Lewis, with Ciara Richmond and Becky Dodd not far behind.

Thanks go to all the staff at The Warwickshire Golf and Country Club for hosting the event and everyone left the event sure that they had seen a number of golf champions of the future in the making.

VIEW IMAGES>> you can view all the images from the YMG Junior Masters National Final 2006 by visiting the YMG ImageBank, or by clicking on the link at the bottom of the page.

Results:

To view all the images from the YMG Junior Masters National Final 2006, visit the YMG ImageBank: