Harry sets sights on Walker Cup spot (From Daily Echo)

Harry sets sights on Walker Cup spot

9:24am Tuesday 7th August 2012 in Golf By Gordon Simpson, Senior Sports Reporter

Harry Ellis hopes his victory in the English Amateur Championship could be a springboard towards the Walker Cup.

The 16-year-old Meon Valley ace became the youngest ever player to win the prestigious crown when he triumphed at Silloth-on-Solway on Saturday.

That success ended the long-standing record that had been set by an 18-year-old Nick Faldo way back in 1975.

Already regarded as one of the country’s most promising junior players, Ellis has now announced his arrival on the men’s scene in grand fashion.

He is aiming to further establish himself at that level now, and revealed that the ultimate dream would be to make the Great Britain & Ireland squad for the 2013 Walker Cup in New York, although he admits there is a lot of work to be done to reach that stage.

“To win a signature event like this opens some big doorways for me, I just don’t know exactly what they’re going to be yet,” said Ellis, who lives in Hedge End .

“Potentially there’s the Walker Cup next year.

“I don’t know if I could do it, but that’s always been a long-term dream for me.

“I think I would still need to do something pretty special from now until then for that to happen, though.

“But it just generally puts my name on the map and I can really go out and start believing in every event I play.”

While Ellis admits there will now be greater expectation on his shoulders, he insists that winning a major event so early on in his career means he has no need to let that trouble him.

“I think there will be added pressure, but I don’t think I’ll feel it,” he said. “Doing it so young is a massive relief.”

Ellis will now speak to his coach, Wentworth-based Kristian Baker, to decide on a plan and a set of goals for the 2013 season.

“We will work hard, sit down and reassess what we want to do next year, because I think this is a massive turning point in what I want to do,” he said.

With his 2&1 win over Royal Lytham & St Annes star Henry Tomlinson in the final, Ellis added to the list of Hampshire players to have won the famous English Amateur trophy.

The current county PGA captain Steve Richardson claimed the title with a win over Hampshire’s Bobby Eggo at Royal St George’s back in 1989.

Two years previous to that, Eggo was again on the end of a defeat at the last hurdle when another Hampshire ace, Kevin Weeks, beat him at Frilford Heath.

Southampton ’s European Tour pro Richard Bland was runner-up in the event in 1993, at Saunton.