ANDY Samuels won the Lancashire Evening Telegraph sponsored Harold Ryden Trophy for the second time at Burnley Golf Club last night - and then admitted it was all down to his caddie.

Had David Wilson not three-putted on the 18th green in Saturday's qualifying round of ELGA's showpiece event, it would have been him, instead of Samuels, in the last eight.

But it was Samuels who scraped through and, with Wilson by his side as caddie, he justified his place in the knockout stages with an ice-cool display to see off Shaw Hill's Nick Hopwood on the last hole of a quite astonishing final.

Despite also winning this event at Accrington back in 1993, the 43-year-old Burnley member admits to an inferiority complex when it comes to rubbing shoulders with East Lancs' best.

But those demons may now be exorcised after a stunning performance full of guts and determination saw him home at the end of an epic contest.

"I can't put it into words what this means to me," said Samuels.

"I know I've won it before and I should be more confident in myself for doing that but the gremlins in my mind don't allow it.

"I don't feel I'm as good as the likes of Tony Flanagan and Tony Holt.

"I look up to them because I think they're better golfers than me. "But it just seemed to be my day and maybe this result will kick me off and I'll now be able to play in their company and think I can beat them."

Samuels looked to be staring down both barrels after Hopwood got off to the perfect start with two birdies on the first two holes.

But a birdie of his own on the par-four third reduced the deficit back to one and what then followed was a truly classic encounter between two golfers who weren't prepared to surrender an inch.

It was an interesting contrast of styles.

For all Hopwood's flair, particularly in his short game around the greens, it was Samuels who played the more consistently.

Hopwood took the sixth with another birdie but then missed a putt from two feet to hand the Burnley man the ninth.

And the match was all-square by the 11th as cracks started to appear in the Shaw Hill man's putting.

A quiet moment of contemplation on the 12th seemed to help him regain his focus and he holed an exquisite chip from 30 feet for another birdie.

But Samuels wasn't to be outdone and sunk a lenghty putt of his own to keep the match all-square.

And then went one up at the next for the first time in the match after Hopwood fell short with both his approach and a chip. They were level again after 14 and both men matched each other stride for stride, drive for drive over the next three holes. But the pressure mounted as they arrived at the 18th, and Hopwood was the first to snap, slicing his drive out of bounds to the right - the first time all night they hadn't driven within a couple of feet of each other off the tee.

Samuels knows a gift-horse when he sees one and a brilliant bunker shot to the front of the green ensured he won the hole and the match.

"The only time I used my three wood was on the last hole and that was a big mistake," said Hopwood. "But I don't think that lost me the match, it was my putting which let me down.

"I've probably missed one putt in the last year from two feet and then I went and missed three of them last night.

"That was the difference, because had I holed them I would have been three or four ahead and not needed that last hole."

For Samuels and his large band of supporters, it was pure ecstacy.

"Nick set off as though he was going to hole everything but I've got something which I got off my father. I'm never beaten until I'm beaten and I just kept on battling.

"I just kept thinking to myself if I can keep the pars going on my home course, then I'll eventually beat him because he can't maintain it.

"And that's how it worked out."

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