Charlie Thornton out to wrest Brabazon Trophy out of Sam Bairstow’s grasp at Saunton

Thornton walked away with the West of England stroke play championship and the £700 winner’s prize last month when he came from four shots back in the final round with a six-under-par 65.

He then admitted that he had only entered the event to gain course knowledge and prepare for a shot at this week’s English stroke play championship – when Hallowes’s Sam Bairstow will defend the crown he won at Ganton – which is set to be one of Thornton’s last few amateur events before turning professional.

Thornton will be in Scotland next month to play in the St Andrews Links Trophy and then Royal Lytham from June 13-18 for the Amateur Championship and what will be his last event as an amateur – unless he wins in Lancashire.

Victory would bring an invite to play the Masters in 2023 and Thornton commented: “I think if you won and didn’t wait before turning pro to play Augusta you would be daft.”

Being four behind the West of England leader in April did not faze Thornton, whose confidence in his game that he can go low was compounded by the knowledge that bogeys would be easy to make in what were troublesome conditions, so that any 18-hole score under par in the fourth and final round would undoubtedly lead to a rise up the leaderboard.

The former England Golf Boys’ Order of Merit winner said: “With the pins where they were in the final afternoon it was very easy to shoot a score over par, so I felt if I shot a few under I would be in with a chance.”

So it proved with both Thornton and The Mere’s Jack Brooks, who carded 67 in the last round, surpassing 54-hole leader Daniel Hayes, of Bramhall, who closed with a level par 71. But thoughts of ultimate triumph were far from 23-year-old Thornton’s mind when he had to declare a provisional ball on the first tee in round four after an “awful tee shot”, only to make the par he needed.