Jamie Moul shrugged off the nightmare of a four-putt to win the Selborne Salver at Blackmoor on Saturday, beating Suffolk county colleague, Lawrence Dodd, in a play-off.

Both men had returned two-round totals of 136, two under the card. But it took a wonderful bunker shot by the England international to seal victory and get his season off to a flying start.

Trapped 50 feet away at the tenth, first hole of sudden-death, he splashed out to a foot, leaving Dodd, a fellow +3 man and England player, to hole from just off the green to keep the match alive. He failed, and Moul, who lost the 2002 salver in a play-off as a 17-year-old, was celebrating.

Yet it all could have been so different three hours earlier. On the green in two at the 421-yard seventh, he left his approach putt five feet short and then took three more, a blow that could have been terminal in this strong field.

"I really thought I'd left myself too much to do. The greens had got a bit tricky in the sun and my bogey putt just caught the edge and stayed up," said Moul, a member of the England Elite squad of the Stoke-by-Nayland club, near Colchester..

Within two holes, he had repaired the damage, making four at the long eighth, courtesy of a raking three-iron to 15 feet and then coaxing an eight-iron to 18 inches at the par-three ninth. His outward half contained four birdies, but four dropped shots.

He then got it home in a level par 34 for a fighting 69 to go with his morning 67, a round that also boasted five birdies, including twos at the sixth and 15th and a bogey at the seventh, a hole that gave him trouble all day.

Meanwhile Dodd (Thetford) winner of the 2005 Hampshire Hog, was ploughing his own straight furrow. With a four-birdie 67 to match Moul before lunch, he then equalled his afternoon score of 69, though he, too, suffered on the greens, with at least four putts rimming the cup and stubbornly staying above ground.

James Crampton, another England cap, from the Spalding club, Lincs, could have joined them in the play-off, but he three-putted the 18th to card 68, 69.

But Crampton's podium finish was not to be: Michael Bush (Rochester & Cobham) came in with a superb 65 after a mundane morning 72 to take third spot.

And his was not the only 65. After a morning 76, Rob Harris (Woodhall Spa) was out in 32 and back in 33, a helter-skelter round that contained seven birdies and an eagle at the par-five eighth.

Defending champion, Ryan Henley (Storeham) left himself too much to do after a morning 72, a round in which the only good putts he made were to salvage par. His five at the 512-yard 13th, where he was home in two blows, was all too typical, and his second-round 69 was a tribute to his character.

Martin Young (Brokenhurst Manor), third last year, shot 76, 71, while Hants county colleague, Mark Thistleton (Hayling) carded a brace of 72s to finish well up. Stoneham's Mark Bicknell was well up after a morning 69, but faded to a disappointing 76 after lunch to finish on the same 145 mark as Hayling's Toby Burden.

Sam Boyes (Stoneham) had a day to forget, adding 80 to his morning 75 and Brokenhurst's Jon Young was also well out of it with a 77, 74 return.