While 2024 was a stellar year for McKenna on home soil as he completed a clean sweep of Island and Channel Islands boys’ and men’s title, he felt he had unfinished business on the county scene, having let a four-shot halfway lead slip in the sweltering heat at Weybrook Park.
But last Thursday at Hockley Golf Club near Winchester he made amends in dramatic style as he fought back from four shots back at lunch to win by one on a rain-affected day when thunderstorms reduced the competition to 27 holes with enough light left to play only nine in the afternoon.
McKenna described it as one of the highlights of his career to date.
‘It’s definitely up there, particularly after the pain of last year, holding the 27-hole lead by a few shots and ended up coming two short. But just over the moon to win it really,’ said the 18-year-old, who joins fellow Sarnians Peter Wilcox and Ollie Chedhomme as Hampshire boys’ champions.
A one-over-par morning round of 72 put McKenna in contention, albeit four off the lead held by playing partner Freddie Gill, and two behind last year’s winning Albie Beeston.
Then came the downpour that left those unaware of the excellent drainage at Hockley believing for a while that they would not be able to go back out.
‘We were just told to wait and there was nothing else we could do,’ McKenna said.
‘They told us every 45 minutes what was happening, but we were stuck there, sat for three hours in the bar. It’s not like you can practice or anything. So you just had to sit there and anticipate.
‘None of us thought we were going back out. We thought there’s no chance this clears up, and that there’s going to be puddles on the green, but when we got out there, it was all right.’
Fortunately, McKenna and Gill were playing in the same group, which ensured the RGGC junior captain was fully aware of his position when they were able to resume play.
‘After the rain and the thunder delay, it was cut down to nine holes in the afternoon, which made things a bit harder,’ he said.
‘Then Fred, who was leading, birdied the first and I thought, “oh, five is a bit much”, but I managed to have a decent nine of three under and just pip him.’
McKenna was faultless in the afternoon as he covered the nine holes in 31 shots with six pars and three birdies for a two-under-par aggregate of 103.
Beeston proved to be his closest challenger and finished one stroke behind.
As well as helping to banish memories of the Hampshire Junior Championships a year earlier, victory also convinced McKenna that he likes Hockley after all.
‘I played their junior open a couple of years ago, I had 43 putts and shot 80 with a 10 down the last,’ he said.
‘It was playing in the back of my mind, like, “I don’t really play well around this course”. And when I stuck it to like 20ft on the first and rammed it 6ft past, I thought, “oh dear, here we go again”, but ended up steadying it out.’
It was also a good day for two of his RGGC clubmates as Alex Mills and Josh Neville finished second and third in the under-16 standings behind Beeston.
‘I’ve set what I would say is a decently high bar for junior golf in Guernsey and now the juniors coming through like Alex and Josh, who did well, can go, “OK, if he’s done that now, I want to do it”. Ollie’s done it as well,’ said McKenna.
‘And coming from an island, it’s like they have this perspective that, because we only play one course, we’re not very versatile around different types, but I think getting ourselves out there and showing that we can do it at different places is big for Guernsey golf.’
Read more in Thursday’s Guernsey Press
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