COLIN Roope, Farnham Golf Club’s former Europro Tour player, wasted little time in making shockwaves playing in his first county championship for his newly adopted county, Hampshire (writes Andrew Griffin).

The 36-year-old, who played for Surrey alongside Ross McGowan, James Heath, James Morrison and Ross Fisher, who have all ended up on the European Tour, took eighth spot in the qualifier, firing rounds of 70 and 71 to finish one under par.

Roope, who moved to Horndean earlier this year and joined Blackmoor GC, is keen to get back into county golf, having had a spell playing on the PGA South Region and mini-tours before regaining his amateur status.

He met defending champion Darren Walkley, playing on his home course, for a place in the quarter-finals.

Walkley, Hayling’s club champion for the past two years, birdied seven of the first ten holes to be four up.

But a putt lipped out on the par-three 11th and Roope made birdies of his own at 13 and 14 to reduce the deficit.

Walkley holed putts from five and eight feet for halves on the 15th and 16th to be two up with two to play. But the match swung on the 17th when the defending champion left his ball in the greenside bunker to hand Roope the hole.

And Walkley could only watch as his opponent rolled in a 15-footer for a birdie three on the closing hole with the members lined up on the balcony hoping to cheer their man home left aghast as the match went down the 19th.

Hayling is one those rare courses to start with a par-three and Roope’s putter was his saviour again as he made a two from inside 12 feet to end Walkley’s weekend.

Walkley said: “I played some great golf, but Colin’s putting was something else. I think my game would have been good enough to beat anyone else in the draw, but those putts killed me.”

Roope then came up against Tom Robson, last year’s beaten finalist from Rowlands Castle, who was looking to add a second county crown to the one he claimed in a play-off at Liphook in 2009.

Robson is renowned as one of the best putters in Hampshire, so Saturday afternoon threatened to be a short-game shoot-out after Roope’s heroics in the morning.

Robson was two up after four, but Roope birdied five and six to get back to all-square. The Hampshire ace who came close to winning the Hampshire Salver back in April, won the eighth and ninth to make the turn two up.

Robson also won the 11th, a dangerous par-three with a big sloped green from back to front, but the 12th – the highest point on the whole of Hayling Island with a big run down to the green – saw Roope cut the arrears to two.

This time, however, the putter could not save Roope and Robson closed out the 3&2 win by winning the par-three 16th, arguably the toughest hole all weekend.

Robson lost in the final for a second year running as county captain Martin Young claimed his third Sloane Stanley and made claim to being arguably the oldest ever winner at 45. Certainly no-one connected with the county can remember the title going to a serving county captain.

* Liphook’s former Surrey junior, Sam Lemon, picked up the Hampshire Youths Championship title with the best score by an U21 in qualifying after taking fourth place with rounds of 68 and 71.

But he was knocked out in the first round by three-time Hayling club champion Steve Clapp, losing 2&1.

* The Hampshire Ladies Golf Association and the men’s Hampshire Golf union are celebrating the 125th anniversary of Hartley Wintney with a special 18-hole mixed stableford competition on Tuesday, June 14.