There were four amateurs in with a chance for the Open title after the morning play. Rob Steele opened with a 71 which included just one birdie and a bogey of some note. On the par 3 13th, Rob piped it OOB from the tee, hit the same club again onto the fringe and unable to repair a pitch mark on the green, used the same club to hole for a bogey.

Andy Sullivan could not buy a putt in his opening 72, hitting virtually every green and he followed that with another round where birdies should have been available on many holes.

The best Amateur performance came from Amateur Champion Matt Cryer with a 70, the new Czech Amateur Champion. It was a 70 and Matt described the round as being about all he could have done.

‘Nothing would start. I birdied 5 and 17 which were about the only two shots I hit close.’

On the other tee, Neil Taylor, not having the best season in stroke play was very content with his 71 after taking six at his opening hole, the long par 4 10th. Three birdies followed but there was only one more red number to come in the afternoon when Neil made three at the 12th in a 72 for 143.

Three players were in real contention for the title although Gareth Jenkins managed an excellent 67 in the afternoon for fourth place. That was the same pm score as Rob Steele who holed his second to the 16th for an eagle to go with 4 birdies. It was good, very good but not quite good enough as shortly after Rob had posted his 138, Matt Cryer posted a 65 for 135.

‘It was all a bit of a disaster to start with – my caddy didn’t turn up on time (Dad!)’

‘I started really well, with birdies on 13, 15 and 16 and nearly on 17 – then I made a hash of 18 (for a double).’

‘For the first time I took driver on 3, after making a birdie at the 2nd. I was long enough that I was chipping back down the green, perfect for that pin. Then I just plodded until the 9th when I hole from 20ft – I just kept telling myself that 65 was better than 66.’

Unfortunately for Matt, he needed a 64 to have tied the eventual winner, the new Professional at Nuneaton, Craig Phillips.

On the 9th in the afternoon, Craig had seemed quietly confident. He had not revealed that at hat stage he was –3. His pm 9th was the 18th a hole which had nearly ruined his opening 68 when a third provisional ball was needed – as it was the first provisional had hit the trees rather behind the green and fallen back in play so that Craig could make a par.

The title would not have stayed with a Professional had Craig not recovered from bogies at the 2nd and the 4th.

‘Four 3s in a row from the 5th was what I needed’, said Craig. One of those birdies was at the notorious 7th, the bane of many an Olton member, a very long par four.

Craig hit a 9 iron from 140 yards in the right rough to 6ft.

‘I though I would need to do the same as the morning or better – that was really good’.

So I you spy silver wear in the Pro Shop at Nuneaton, it’s the Warwickshire Open trophy. For Matt Cryer there was disappointment at not being able to complete a treble of the Amateur, the Matchplay and the Open but he would talk away the TP Cooke Salver as some consolation with a record score of 273.

Full scores will be posted shortly and a number of pictures, including those from the presentations will be added to the gallery for this Championship, to be found in

County Men | Championships | Amateur | Pictures.

There were it a number of Professionals missing because of a conflict of tournaments – however, its very doubtful whether any of those missing would have got close to or beaten the winners score, or that of the runner-up. Phillips, Cryer and Steele played some fantastic golf over a very tough but fair golf course.