Max Hopkins becomes youngest winner of Telegraph Junior Championship
Friday 10 November 2017 18:32, UK
Max Hopkins claimed a historic win at the prestigious Telegraph Vitality Junior Golf Championship as Annabell Fuller was in a class of her own in the girls' event.
Hopkins became the youngest champion in the 33-year history of the competition when the 14-year-old clinched a three-shot win over Ben Jones, while Fuller blitzed the field by 13 shots over the North Course at Quinta do Lago in the Algarve.
A composed final-round 71 proved enough for Hopkins to seal his place in the record books as he was the only player in the 21-strong field to finish under par in the 54-hole tournament.
Hopkins started the day tied for the lead with Alfie Fox, who remained in contention until coming to grief at the 11th, where he lost a ball and then endured putting problems as he ran up an expensive quadruple-bogey nine.
But there were no such problems for Hopkins, particularly on the greens as he completed three rounds without a single three-putt to join an illustrious list of former champions including Justin Rose and Matt Fitzpatrick.
"That was my greatest win, it will take time for this to sink in," said Hopkins, who was third in the English Boys' U16 Amateur Championship earlier this year. "I had a few nerves on the short putts I had but I wasn't nervous coming up the last as I knew the other scores.
"Two putting takes a lot of shots off and that's the thing that has done it for me as I haven't played great this week."
British Amateur Girls' champion Lily May Humphreys had to settle for a runner-up finish for the second year running as Fuller cruised to a superb victory in the girls' competition.
Rounds of 71, 74 and 70 secured a comfortable victory for the 15-year-old on one under par, with Humphreys a distant second on 12 over.
"This is such an honour," said Fuller. "There are so many who have won this and gone on to win big championships. One day I hope I can follow in their footsteps."
