Andy DevaneyThere are easier ways to spend a final afternoon than watching somebody else putt for the title you have just posted a score to win. Marcus Karim, 12 years old and representing East Herts, discovered that at Porters Park Golf Club, where three rounds of controlled golf delivered victory in the English Boys’ Under 14 Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship — the Reid Trophy — by a single shot.
Karim signed for rounds of 70, 71 and 71 to finish on 2-over-par. The numbers are tidy. The route to them, particularly on the final day, was anything but.
Marcus Karim stays close as the lead changes hands
France’s Maxence Dennetiere began the last round two shots clear of compatriot Alan Rode, with Karim another two behind. He then birdied the opening hole for the third round running and added another early gain, stretching his advantage to three through three holes.
That was the comfortable part. Golf, being an obliging sort of game, declined to leave it there.
Dennetiere dropped shots at the 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th. By the turn, the championship had been pulled apart and reassembled, with Rode — the first-round leader — moving back to the top.
Alan Rode turns the final with an eagle
Rode supplied the shot that appeared to give the final some direction, making eagle at the par-5 10th. After 12 holes he led Karim by two.
Then came consecutive dropped shots at the 13th and 14th, and the advantage disappeared almost as quickly as it had arrived.
Karim, playing in the group ahead, was doing something less spectacular and considerably more useful: making pars. On a demanding Porters Park layout, he kept mistakes scarce, stuck to his plan and waited for the field to make the championship come to him.
A bunker save and five-foot putt decide the Reid Trophy
A bogey at the 16th threatened to loosen Karim’s grip, but his response at the next was the shot of a player refusing to turn one mistake into two. From a bunker at the 17th, he produced an excellent up-and-down for par.
On the 18th, he faced a five-foot putt to complete a closing 71 and set the clubhouse mark at 2-over. He made it.
Only then did the difficult part begin: waiting.
Rode reached the 18th green in two knowing a par would win the title. His first putt finished well short. The par attempt slipped past, and another miss removed the possibility of a play-off.
Karim had his championship.
“It feels amazing to be honest! I’m speechless at the minute. I got off to quite a slow start, I wasn’t holing many putts, but as the round went on I held a really good putt on 10 for birdie and it gave me a lot of momentum.
“I definitely knew I had a chance, but I was nervous pretty much the whole way round. I could see the scoreboard behind me, and I had to wait at the end. I couldn’t move a muscle; I was just hitting a few putts in case it went to a play-off. It was unfortunate for Alan [Rode], but I’m really pleased.
“I hit some really good approach shots, and I was good off the tee, I probably could have holed a few more putts, but I mean I played really solid so I can’t complain! My knowledge of the area helped me with the firmness, and I was definitely able to use that to my advantage.”
The order of those emotions was telling. Karim spoke of the slow start, the nerves and the missed chances before arriving at the result. For a 12-year-old, there was not much triumphalism about it; just a fairly accurate audit of how he had got the job done.
Freddie Buck joins Rode in second at Porters Park
Hertfordshire nearly supplied a one-two. Hadley Wood’s Freddie Buck closed with a level-par 70, his best round of the championship, making three birdies including one at the last. He finished tied second with Rode on 3-over.
Golf Ireland’s Tom Doyle produced the lowest round of the final day, and the only under-par score in the field, with a 1-under 69 to finish fourth on 4-over. Spain’s Sergio Vargas Tejerina and Dennetiere, who steadied himself on the back nine, completed the top five.
Rode’s second place adds to a season that already includes victory at the Belgian International Under 14 Championship and a number of top-10 finishes.
Karim ends England’s Reid Trophy wait
Karim, a member of the England Golf Thames Valley Regional Squad, becomes the first English winner of the Reid Trophy since Kris Kim won at Porters Park in 2021.
For the English Boys’ Under 14 Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship, it was a finish built less on fireworks than restraint. Karim stayed close enough while others traded the lead, recovered immediately after his late bogey and gave himself a score the final group still had to beat.
The bare result — one shot, three steady rounds, a title at 12 — carries enough weight without dressing it up.
That is the line for the record book. The more revealing detail came before it: one bunker save, one five-foot par putt, then a 12-year-old trying not to move a muscle while the championship decided whether it belonged to him.
