MARTIN Young was a late bloomer, not winning his first county championship until he was in his early 40s.

The ground works company owner watched the likes of Mike Smith, Nigel Graves – who reached the Amateur Championship semi-final at Royal Porthcawl in 1988 – and Chris Martin come through Brokenhurst Manor’s junior section with him.

The latter was another Hampshire Boys team member, who won the Harry Vardon Trophy as the county’s leading U18 player in 1988, 12 months after Smith had earned the accolade.

In the next six years, Justin Rose, Richard Bland and Martin Le Mesurier would also pick up the Vardon trophy, named after the legendary six-time Open champion, who grew up a stone’s throw from Royal Jersey GC. 

As well as lifting the Sloane-Stanley Challenge Cup at three county championships in six years from 2011, Young has won the Courage Trophy – the county’s strokeplay championship – five times, as well as nine Hampshire Mid-Amateur titles for the Over 35s, including four in a row from 2011.

The 2005 English Mid-Amateur Champion was also the first player to complete the Hampshire Slam – holding all four men’s tournaments in the same year – in 2014, including the Pechell Salver for the best 36-hole qualifying score at the county championship, and the Cole Scuttle for the best 72-hole score in the Courage and the Pechell.

In 2019, he claimed his first Hampshire Order of Merit victory and since the introduction of the Mid-Amateur Foursomes in 2017, he has won that event four times with Ryan Henley, to go with his three County Foursomes wins – twice with the Stoneham ace.

If Young can win his first Hampshire Seniors title, it will also be the shortest time between claiming the men’s title and the Over 55s – a record held by Stoneham’s former county captain Richard Elmes, who took 15 years between 2002 and 2017.