BLACKMOOR Golf Club’s Colin Roope has become the first player to land both the Hampshire Order of Merit titles in the season, having become just the second name on the Cullen Quaich after Hayling’s Darren Walkley secured the gross prize in the competition’s first two seasons, writes Andrew Griffin.

Walkley’s decision to join the pro ranks back in July denied him a realistic chance of a hat-trick, with the best five results in the 11 eligible scratch tournaments counting.

But with bonus points awarded for the players’ performances in the Solent Salver – for the best 72-hole aggregate in the Stoneham Trophy and the Mike Smith Memorial and the Cole Scuttle – Roope had to wait until the Courage Trophy scores had been added earlier this month to the 36-hole qualifier at the County Championship last June to be certain of completing the double by claiming the net Order of Merit as well as the gross prize.

Roope only switched from Farnham Golf Club to Blackmoor at the start of the year, having moved down the A3 to Clanfield.

The 36-year-old company director needed a second-place finish at his club’s Open last month to secure a lead going into the Courage, the final strokeplay event on the county calendar.

And while the former Europro Tour player, who spent 2009 trying to carve out a career in the paid ranks, still has ambitions to play for his new county, the two trophies he has won completed a fine first season after crossing the border.

Roope said: “To win the Order of Merit was a thrill. I won the Surrey Championship and their Order of Merit back-to-back before turning pro, so to win the Hampshire one in my first year was pleasing.

“I started the season not really knowing what to expect, having played 15 rounds maximum since I stopped playing professionally.

“Since then, I have started a new career, got married and had two kids, so golf has not been a priority.

“Joining Blackmoor was a really good move. I was so unfamiliar with the course that my concentration levels improved. I was not going through the motions, as so many do when playing a course they are over-familiar with.

“I finished ninth in the Delhi, at Hockley, back in May, despite playing terribly, and only a good attitude kept me going.

“After that I realised I should be able to compete if I committed some time to practice.

“I know I’m not the best player in Hampshire – far from it. There are some incredibly talented individuals in the county who are miles ahead of me.

“That said, on my day I can compete and be there or thereabouts and that gave me additional motivation.”

Roope flagged up his potential to the county selectors when he qualified in sixth place at the County Championships at Hayling back in June.

Ironically, he then ended Darren Walkley’s hopes of retaining his county crown in the matchplay with a superb putting display in a shoot-out over the links overlooking the Solent.

No player has won both the Surrey and Hampshire County Championships in more than 100 years, and after beating the defending champion it took county colts captain Tom Robson, from Rowlands Castle, on his way to a second final in a row, to deny Roope that glory.

Roope went into the Courage with an eight-point lead over Shanklin & Sandown’s Jordan Sundborg.

But it was the latter’s Isle of Wight clubmate, Ryan Harmer, who confirmed his place in the Hampshire team for this week’s England County Finals with victory at Hockley.

Roope’s only other rival was Stoneham’s Ryan Henley, who was second in the Delhi – an event he won five years in a row before Walkey’s win there on the way to victory in the first Hampshire Order of Merit in 2014.

But a third-place finish in the Courage left him runner-up in the season’s race for the Quaich, 41/2 points behind Roope, whose total of 371/2 points in the net table left him clear of Blackmoor’s Ben Lobacz on 30 points.

Roope will be presented with his two trophies at the Hampshire Golf annual general meeting in December.