Ben Sessions of Bishop’s Stortford was recently in action at the Justin Rose Daily Telegraph Finals at the spectacular Quinta do Lago complex in Portugal’s Algarve.
12 boys and 12 girls competed for the end of year Championship having finished high enough on the leaderboard by way of their gross scores at qualifiers all around the UK during the 2024 season.
Ben, having recently been selected into the England Boys U16 Squad, has been in great form and was definitely one of the contenders for the prestigious title that has been won by many household names including Matthew Fitzpatrick and Justin Rose.
Indeed Hertfordshire golfers have had plenty of previous success including Max Hopkins also of Bishop’s Stortford as well as Alice Hewson, Hannah Screen and most recently Sophia Fullbrook.
The December weather in the Algarve was great and the standard of the golf was to match.
The Championship is played over 3 rounds and unfortunately for Ben, a day 1 round of 78 +6 proved to be the round that took away a realistic chance of winning the title, leaving him back in 11th place.
From this point forward, Ben’s golf was as fantastic as anyone else in the field. A day 2 round of 67 -5 and joint lowest of the entire tournament pulled Ben way back up the leaderboard and with an outside chance of victory.
Going into the final round 8 shots behind the leader and with Justin Rose present to watch the proceedings, Ben knew it would take something spectacular. It wasn’t quite to be but a 3rd round of 69 -3 continued to move Ben up the final standings to finish a very respectable 4th place. Charlie Rusbridge of Colne Valley essentially outplayed everyone, taking victory by 8 shots finishing -12.
