Wath's Nick Poppleton now has his name alongside that of former Open and Masters winner Sandy Lyle

WATH'S Nick Poppleton did not have the opportunity to glance at the names of past winners of the Brabazon Trophy when it was handed to him after his dramatic play-off win at Frilford Heath on Sunday.
Wath's Nick Poppleton proudly displays the Brabazon Trophy, which now bears his name along with those such as Sandy Lyle and Michael Bonallack (Picture: Leaderboard Photography).Wath's Nick Poppleton proudly displays the Brabazon Trophy, which now bears his name along with those such as Sandy Lyle and Michael Bonallack (Picture: Leaderboard Photography).
Wath's Nick Poppleton proudly displays the Brabazon Trophy, which now bears his name along with those such as Sandy Lyle and Michael Bonallack (Picture: Leaderboard Photography).

So many people wanted to take photographs of him before it was handed back into the safekeeping of England Golf that he did not realise he was following in the footsteps of many golfing luminaries, including a future Open and Masters champion in Sandy Lyle and arguably Britain’s greatest amateur in history, Sir Michael Bonallack.

Perhaps that is why the extent of his achievement had still not sunk in yesterday morning – that and the fact that he was exhausted after four successive early alarm calls and playing two rounds in one day in hot conditions after heavy rain meant only one round was completed during the first two days of the event.

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There was an element of distraction, too, for his girlfriend Amber had driven down to surprise him at the 18th green of his closing round.

It was the first event when she has been to watch him and she arrived in time to see him win in a sudden-death play-off against Wilco Nienaber after rounds of 66 72 67 67 had seen him tie with the South African on 16-under-par 272. After halving the 189-yard par-3 ninth the first time, Poppleton chipped in for a winning birdie second time around.

“Amber drove down and surprised me on the 18th green, I hadn’t realised she was coming,” said Poppleton.

“This was the first event she had been to. We sort of do our own thing; she is into her horse riding and I golf, and it works well.

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“It was nice to see her after being away for two weeks in France [on England international duty] and then away for this week [for the Brabazon].

“I’ve got Tuesday off and then I am off to play in the St Andrews Links Trophy.

“I come home for a week off then it’s up to the British Amateur at Royal Aberdeen, and then on to the European Amateur [at The Hague, in Holland], which is a couple of weeks after that, so it gets a bit hectic now.

“I’m not quite sure why Amber came down, but I think it was because I was in a good position. It was just really nice to see her.”

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Poppleton had led after his first-round 66 – which was spread over two days after play was suspended last Thursday when he had completed just one hole.

By the time the last round got underway he was two shots back of Nienaber, and the South African’s hot start on Sunday afternoon helped him create a five-hole advantage.

Poppleton was denied a place in last year’s English men’s amateur final only after an oversight saw him leave a training club in his bag ahead of his semi-final with eventual winner, Todd Clements, of Braintree.

Showing the integrity for which golf is famous, he brought it to the attention of an official, was hit with the loss of two holes for carrying a non-conforming club – and lost the match by one.

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Rather than reflect on Sunday on the fact that fate might conspire against him again in pursuit of an English championship, he boldly took driver for the first time in the week at the 324-yard 16th, drove the green, and holed from around 15ft for an eagle.

“There is a scoreboard on the back of 16 and I thought, ‘Wilco’s going to see that as soon as he gets up here and that might put a little bit of pressure on him.”

By that stage Nienaber was already wobbling, the effects of a bogey and a double bogey being compounded by Poppleton’s eagle to leave the erstwhile runaway leader one adrift.

Ever the sportsman, Poppleton notes here that Nienaber “hit a fantastic drive at 18 and then chipped and putted for a birdie to earn a play-off, which was very impressive”.

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Here the golfing gods who had turned their back on Poppleton so firmly a year before smiled in his favour, as he explained.

“I played with Wilco [in the Irish championship] a couple of weeks ago, and he is a really lovely lad, a fantastic golfer with a lot of talent – and he hits the golf ball ridiculous distances,” said Poppleton, recent winner of the Danny Willett Salver.

“He makes me feel ridiculously short. I was a bit happy when they said it was a par-3 play-off, I thought, ‘at least I’m not going to have to be 80 yards behind his driver’.”

Both players missed the green on each of the two occasions they played the hole in the play-off. Both lipped out on the first occasion, a feat which Nienaber repeated after Poppleton had holed his for what proved a championship-clinching birdie.

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It was only the second play-off Poppleton had been in during his career – and to be involved in the first he had also required an eagle, at the last hole at Hallamshire where he went on to lift a Sheffield Union junior title in the sudden-death climax.

He holds a sports science degree, gained at the Tournament Golf College at Plymouth University, where he learned the importance of keeping fuelled and hydrated during weather conditions such as those he faced at Frilford Heath.

“The weather was lovely, very warm and obviously it was hard to stay hydrated,” said Poppleton, the second Yorkshire winner of the Brabazon Trophy in two years following the 2016 victory of Meltham’s Jamie Bower.

“You have to eat enough and drink enough and hit your golf shots in between, so we [his friend and caddie Alex Stubbs] were stuffing our faces on the way round and trying to keep hydrated as much as we could.

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“I learned quite a lot off a lady called Nic Rowley at university, She is a triathlete, and her partner is a swimming coach, and we touched quite a bit on that at university, about hydration and keeping fuelled in the round.

“You can’t get past the point and then just flood it; you have to keep drinking, drinking, drinking in those circumstances.

“Last week in France it was 30° and humid so you can imagine that was so hard, particularly when you are pulling a trolley as well and you have to take the water with you. You just have to drink constantly.”

One thirst he might not be able to slake is the one he has for tournament victories and you would not bet against him becoming Yorkshire’s fourth winner of the English men’s amateur championship in five renewals when it takes place at Formby & Hesketh next month.

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