James Wilson has added the Durham County Boys Championship to his growing list of achievements.
The 17-year-old from Tyneside Golf Club has already made his mark at senior level with victory in last year’s Durham County Matchplay Championship while also becoming the first player to win both his club junior and men’s championships.
He also has two Durham County Junior Matchplay Championship title on his CV as well as England Under 16 and England Schools honours.
At Garesfield, rounds of 71 and 69 saw him finish at four under-par and seven shots better than Jack Ainscough (Hartlepool). You have to feel for Ainscough, who was also runner-up in the Durham County men’s championship to South Moor’s Chris Handy.
Wilson also just happened to finish third in that event – missing out on the play-off by just one shot.
Now off a handicap of plus-three, Wilson has just finished his A-levels at Walbottle Sixth Form College in Newcastle and is taking a gap-year as he plans for the future.
“My ambition is to one day turn pro,” he said. “After finishing my A-levels I thought this was a good opportunity to really work hard at my game and see what I am capable of. I spoke to some pros about it, and to my mam and dad, and they gave me their backing.”
In the Under 16 championship, Eaglescliffe’s Will Skipp retained his title with a score of 78, two better than Harrison Hodgson (Darlington) and Adam Charlton (Ramside) while earlier at Birtley, Nicky Lee-Shield (Barnard Castle) was crowned Under 14 champion with a round of 81 while Houghton dominated the nett category taking the top three spots with Mark Walton shooting a superb score of 62 as Jack Laidler finished second with a 65 and Oliver Norden was third with a round of 67.
