As it was, Rob only got to take 24 tee shots, his chances demolished by perfection from Andy Sullivan around the greens, mixed in with seven birdies and a solitary dropped shot. Eleven down at lunch Rob responded to a Sullivan shot to three feet at the par three 2th by hitting to 10ft and holing, just to take one more walk up Olton's fairways, only to see another Sullivan wedge stop less than a yard from the hole.

'I couldn't get it going', said Rob, ?I had three or four horseshoes and Andy's short game was phenomenal - he never failed to up and down.'

Sullivan had four birdies in his 4&3 win against Boys Team member Adam Ferraro, then faced the present Warwickshire Junior No 1 in Jamie Carney in Friday semis.

'I was two up at nine and two under then I bogied 10 and 11. He's the type that never gives up and he sized that opportunity. I had to make an up and down at the 13th, and birdie 14 and 16 for that 3&2 win', said Andy of Friday's play.

Rob Holed a number of clutch putts in his quarter final win against fellow 'Rob' - Rob Browning. In the afternoon he belied his handicap and went round Olton in four under par to finally dispatch Jack Sant, Runner-up in the Amateur) on the 21st, courtesy of a seven foot birdie putt. Having been three down after nine, Rob won five holes in a row, two of them with birdies, just to put himself back into a game which everyone described as fabulous.

Its now two from two in defense of his Warwickshire Championships, and Andy will head north this week to play in the St Andrews Links. The following week he is off to the Lancashire coast, to West Lancs and Formby for the British Amateur where he will try to go one round better and this year make the final. He has the best wishes of everyone in our County.

Armed with new clubs, including a set of wedges he can spin as he wishes, hopefully the next two weeks will see him in contention and taking his place as a top championship performer for England, after a relatively slow start to the year.

As for Rob, having shot 75 in a mid-week medal on Thursday, the approximate 66 on Friday was followed by demolishing a scratch golfer from Oxley Park in a club match on Saturday, by being four under when he won 6&5. The handicap says 4 but that is a 'fatherly' mark of what Rob can produce and when you see the love and support his kids have for him, he's capable of much lower.

And the winner - who can stop him in his quest for an Open?

A selection of further pictures from the day can be found in County Men | Championships | Mens Matchplay | Pictures