Raymond into Spanish Amateur final (From Daily Echo)

Hampshire's Neil Raymond reaches final of Spanish Amateur Championship

7:21pm Saturday 2nd March 2013 in Sport By Gordon Simpson, Senior Sports Reporter

Hampshire's Neil Raymond could be set to add another prestigious title to his list of achievements, as he prepares to play in the final of the Spanish Amateur Championship.

The Corhampton ace will take on Ireland's Reeve Whitson on Sunday, at the La Manga Club, for the right to lift the trophy.

Raymond stormed through to the final with a 2&1 victory over Swiss player Edouard Amacher, in a semi-final match in which he never trailed.

He had previously recorded impressive wins against fellow Englishman Jordan Smith in the quarter-finals (4&2), as well as another compatriot, Max Orrin, in the last 16 (3&2) and Ireland's Rory McNamara in the first match play round (7&5).

Raymond, who breezed through the stroke play qualifying rounds, already possesses one of the top amateur crowns in European golf, having won the last two Brabazon Trophy titles.

If he is successful tomorrow, he will follow in the footsteps of his former Hampshire teammate, Sam Hutsby, who won the Spanish Amateur in 2006.