Super Sully – it’s national glory for Goddard

After 72 holes at Sand Moor Golf Club in Yorkshire, he posted a six-under-par total and duly claimed his first national title.

Goddard, 17, said: “I’m really pleased to win. It’s definitely the biggest achievement of my career, by a mile. It feels so good.

“My confidence was already high, to the point where I feel like I’m going to get top-10. But now I’ve actually broken through and won, it definitely feels like I can do that again.”

Goddard, who also recently won the Norfolk Amateur Championship, was in contention from the outset at the English Under 18 Amateur Championship. He piled up an astonishing eight birdies in the first round, firing a three-under-par 68 to lie just one stroke off the lead.

Goddard remained a single shot off the pace at the half-way point after a rollercoaster 72. He endured a couple of difficult spells in his second round but again made a stack of birdies, including an incredible five in succession either side of the turn.

The Culford School pupil made a telling move across round three, compiling a two-under score of 69 that saw him surge to the summit. He began the final 18 holes with a two-shot lead and never relinquished his grip on the tournament. Indeed, on the back nine Goddard unleashed another one of his trademark scoring sprees, chipping in at the 13th for the first of three straight birdies.

Understandably, nerves bubbled under through the closing stages and there were anxious moments at the last hole as his tee shot flew left and clattered into a tree. But Goddard kept his cool, chipped his ball out of trouble and signed off from the England Golf tournament with a second successive round of 69.

Goddard said: “It was stressful but it was good fun. My game is in a really good place at the minute – it definitely feels like I can hit some unreal golf shots. But also, I just need to tidy up the amount of bogeys and big numbers I’ve made.”

His brilliant victory is sure to have caught the attention of the England selectors ahead of the boys' Home Internationals, which are set to take place in Scotland on August 4-6.

In the next month Goddard has plenty on his plate, including the Carris Trophy – the English Boys’ Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship – at Northamptonshire County Golf Club. 

He also has the English Men’s Amateur Championship at Beau Desert Golf Club in his busy schedule. But before that, Goddard is ready to make two important appearances in county colours. This Thursday he will play for the Norfolk boys team in a south-east qualifier in Sussex. And on Sunday Goddard will tee it up for the county first team, who are in Anglian League action in Cambridgeshire.

Picture (supplied by Leaderboard Photography) – Sully Goddard celebrates his English Under 18 Amateur Championship victory