Blackmoor member Sam Parsons’ hopes of becoming the 17th player to win the Sloane-Stanley Challenge Cup for at least a second time in the past 99 years were sunk on a windy June morning in the New Forest.

Strong winds hit the Brokenhurst Manor course in the New Forest, as Parsons, the 2024 Hampshire, Isle of Wight & Channel Islands Amateur Champion battled for a place in the quarter-finals.

It was Parsons’ misfortune that having qualified in sixth place in the 36-hole qualifier, the former Waterlooville junior member found himself up against Stoneham’s Jack Warren.

Warren recently lost a play-off in the Delhi Cup, at Hockley, to North Hants’ Hampshire first-team regular Rob Wheeler – who Parsons beat in a five-hole shootout for the Waterlooville Open a few weeks ago.

But any hopes of that form line holding up were blown out of the water as Warren held on for a 2&1 victory in the first round.

Parsons, who won in front of a large Blackmoor crowd when the East Hampshire club hosted the 2024 championship, had the satisfaction of knowing Warren reached the final.

But it was defending champion Joe Buenfeld, also from Stoneham, who joined the 11 players with two wins to their name in England’s oldest county championship, by holding on for a 2&1 win as the weather relented.

Parsons opened the 121st championship with a one-under par 69, making four birdies but as the wind went from gusting to a strength that made scoring very difficult after lunch, he dropped three shots in five holes on the front nine.

But he steadied the ship – with the cut mark looking to fall at four-over – and he sealed his place in the top 16 to contest the matchplay with birdies at the 14th and 16th to card a 71, two shots behind the leading trio.

By Andrew Griffin