Yorkshire golf: Alex Fitzpatrick completes Hallamshire's hat-trick of Sheffield Plate triumphs

ALEX FITZPATRICK showed admirable course management to keep the prestigious Sheffield Plate in Hallamshire hands for the third year running.
Alex Fitzpatrick with the Sheffield Plate (Picture: Driving Golf PR & Media).Alex Fitzpatrick with the Sheffield Plate (Picture: Driving Golf PR & Media).
Alex Fitzpatrick with the Sheffield Plate (Picture: Driving Golf PR & Media).

He placed five shots clear of Lindrick’s Jamie Sheppard with judicious use of rescue clubs off the tee.

While many competitors fell foul of the penal rough on his home course, Fitzpatrick - younger brother of British and Nordea Masters champion Matt, who attended the prize giving - steered well clear during successive rounds of one-under-par 70.

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Despite being one of the longest hitters in the competition, he resisted the temptation to reach for the driver on several holes.

He commented: “I played within myself because the rough here is brutal. There were a lot of rescue clubs off the tee.

“I was consistent thanks to being conservative, playing steady golf and keeping it in play.

“The key though was holing from six feet, which is what I did well all day.”

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A birdie on the second hole settled him into his opening round, the highlight of which came on the par-5 14th where, despite missing the fairway way to the left, he produced an eagle after hitting a six-iron approach to five feet.

The afternoon saw him continue where he left off, steady play netting 15 pars, two birdies and a bogey.

The Tapton student has just finished his A/S exams and after a month of further study he will concentrate on his golf with the ambition of winning a place in the England squad for the Home Internationals.

“I’m playing more consistently and if I can find a way of getting the driver going straight I’m sure a really good score will come," he added.

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His long-term goal is to emulate his brother, who placed seventh in the Masters in April behind winner and fellow Sheffielder Danny Willett.

“I would love to be like Matt. For all young golfers he is somebody to look up to and I’m lucky he is my brother who is there to help me," said. "I can’t ask for more.”

This year’s Sheffield Plate was the 25th played at Hallamshire, and Fitzpatrick followed fellow England Under-16 player Barclay Brown - who became the youngest winner, aged 14, last year - while in 2014 Greg Tickell lifted the plate.

The competition, the highlight of South Yorkshire’s amateur golfing season, is sponsored by the Special Steels Group and is organised and staged by the Sheffield Union of Golf Clubs.

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This year it attracted a full field of 60 entries that included a number of England international and squad members, among them last year’s winner Brown, Fitzpatrick, plus Rotherham pair Charlie Daughtrey and Jamie Harrison.