GOLF: Jamie Abbott of Fynn Valley is the new Rushmere Junior Open champion, but only because the holder Stoke-by-Nayland's Scott Vandervoord signed for a higher score than he actually shot.

GOLF

JAMIE Abbott of Fynn Valley is the new Rushmere Junior Open champion, but only because the holder Stoke-by-Nayland's Scott Vandervoord signed for a higher score than he actually shot.

On the 12th hole in the second round, Vandervoord's playing partner put him down for a five instead of a four.

It meant that last year's champion had signed for one more shot than he had taken, and had he signed his card correctly he would have taken the title from Abbott on countback.

So in the 36 hole scratch competition Abbott's rounds of 74 and 71 made him the champion with the unfortunate Vandervoord as runner-up with with Woodbridge's Paul Dobson claiming third place on countback from Chris Smith (Fynn Valley).

In his morning round Jamie shot a 74 after recovering from an outward nine of 40 –six over par. He was back in two under par 34 with birdies at the 13th and 16th holes to keep in touch with the leader, Andrew Robinson (Rushmere) who had shot a 72.

In the afternoon Robinson, who won the Suffolk Junior Matchplay Championship beating Tim Dainty (Stoke-by-Nayland) in the final, faded with a 77 that left him in fifth place, while Jamie found the front nine not to his liking.

He dropped a shot at the opening hole and further shots at the fourth and seventh holes to be three over par at the turn.

For the second time he was back in two under par 34 with three birdies in the space of four holes, but dropped a shot on the final hole to deny him a level par round.

A total of 61 juniors played in the annual Rushmere Junior Open on a very warm day.

All the prizes had been donated by friends and members of the club who also patrolled the course keeping an eye on the youngsters as required by the new Child Protection Act.

This was the ninth year of the event, and once again the day was an unqualified success.

Results

36-hole scratch: Jamie Abbott (Fynn Valley) 74-71-145; Scott Vandervoord (Stoke-by-Nayland) 76-70-146; Paul Dobson (Woodbridge) 76-73-149 on countback from Chris Smith (Fynn Valley) 75-74-149 and Andrew Robinson (Rushmere) 72-77-149.

Other leading scores: Damian Gant (Rushmere) 77-73-150; Matthew Stockdale (Rushmere) 76-74-150; Ryan Wingate (Haverhill) 73-78-151; Ross Cracknell (Fynn Valley) 80-72-152; Joe Fairbrother (Woodbridge) 80-75-155; Greg Hills (Stoke-by-Nayland) 75-80-155; Joe Thompson (Fynn Valley) 79-79-158; Warren Goddard (Fynn Valley) 78-81-159; Paul Maskell (Clacton) 84-78-162; Andrew Newman (Rushmere) 82-80-162; Scott Brace (Stoke-by-Nayland) 82-81-163; Andreos Lazos (Woodbridge) 86-79-165; Seb Sadler (Thorpeness) 84-82-166; Shaun Masterson (Rushmere) 81-85-166; Daniel Scott (Seckford) 89-84-173.

Best am: Andrew Robinson (Rushmere) 72; best pm: Ross Cracknell (Fynn Valley) 72.

27-hole Stableford (handicaps 13-24): Sam Taylor (Woodbridge) 69 pts; Adam Gifford (Frinton) 63 on countback from Craig Bradford (Stoke-by-Nayland).

18-hole Stableford (handicaps 25-36): Hugo Dobson (Woodbridge) 48, Shaun Bloomfield (Rushmere) 42, Ryan Atkins (Gt Yarmouth & Caister) 39, William Law (Thetford) 39, Sam McKenzie (Rushmere) 38,Matthew Field (Rushmere) 37, Jordan Dymond (Fynn Valley) 37.

Girls' Stableford (27 holes): Jennifer Woodhatch (Rushmere) 66, Sarah Owen (Rushmere) 51. (18 holes): Amanda Amey (Ipswich) 37.