A 17-YEAR-old from Rhuddlan Golf Club was crowned the first Welsh winner of a competition in nine years last weekend.

Caolan Burford, from Rhyl, won the Welsh Men's Open Strokeplay, which attracted about 150 competitors from across Europe at Ashburnham Golf Club, which was held between April 21-24.

Caolan, junior captain at the club, took the lead on day two and held it from then on, winning the tournament with a final score of -1.

 

A week on from coming seventh at the Scottish Boys’ Open Championship, his mother, Pauline, was understandably bursting with Caolan, who has been golfing for the last five-and-a-half years.

She said: “My husband was there with him; I was at home, watching live. It was just so emotional; it’s amazing. He works so hard at his golf, he practises in Conwy and Rhuddlan every day.

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“He was leading after day two, held the lead on day three, and won it on day four, which was unbelievable.

“He was the first Welsh men’s winner in nine years, but he’s not even a man - he’s a boy - so I don’t even know how long it is since a junior golfer won it! There were some other juniors, but the majority were men.

“He was at Deeside College doing his A-levels, but because it’s his last year of under-18s, we’ve actually taken the summer off for him to focus on all of his big competitions, and then we’ll see how it goes by the end of the season, but it was a very, very good start.

“He was a really good footballer, but gave it up when he started to play golf, and has just been completely committed.

“He got world ranking points for this event, and he’s got another category B event this weekend in Lytham St Annes.

“He’s had three Wales caps so far, so we’re hoping he’ll get picked for the European Boys’ Championships, and the home internationals, which he played in last year.”