Perry, from NSW, missed a Championship winning par putt on the 36th hole at Royal St Georges, sending the match against England’s Harry Ellis into extra holes.

Ellis claimed the title with a par on the 38th hole of the match.

Earlier, Ellis battled back from four holes down with five to play to win the final. The 21-year-old, from Meon Valley, follows in the footsteps of his former Hampshire teammate, 2016 Amateur champion Scott Gregory, to lift the famous trophy.

Ellis, who became the youngest player to win the English Amateur Championship aged just 16 in 2012, secured a place in The Open Championship next month at Royal Birkdale, as well as next year’s US Open at Shinnecock Hills and, by tradition, an invitation to the Masters Tournament in 2018.

Harry Ellis with the coveted trophy. PHOTO: Harry Hubbard/Getty Images.

The match was extremely close for most of the day and the first 18 holes were nip and tuck with neither player able to build more than a one hole lead. The match was all-square going into the afternoon and although Ellis won the 20th hole with a birdie three it was the Australian who seized the initiative.

Perry won four consecutive holes from the 22nd to go 3-up, before winning the 27th with a par to give him a commanding four-hole lead with nine holes to play.

The pair continued to trade holes but Perry maintained his four hole lead as the match approached the 32nd hole. With only five holes to play Ellis’ second shot came within inches of going out of bounds. Perry, however, found trouble in a bunker and Ellis seized his opportunity to hole a putt for par and win the hole.

That gave Ellis a lift and, after halving the next, he kept his nerve steady to win the next two holes with pars. On the 36th green, Perry missed a ten-foot par putt to claim victory and the match went to extra holes. 

“I’m a bit bummed but golf is a strange game. At the end of the day I have got to take the positives out of the week and move forward.” – Dylan Perry.

Stepping up to the 1st tee at Royal St George’s for the third time, both players played cautiously and halved the hole in par but the match was brought to a dramatic conclusion at the next.

Ellis was through the green in two of the par-4 and chipped to four feet while Perry, after hitting his second shot into a deep swale, struggled to escape and found the green in four shots. When Perry missed his eight-footer for bogey, Ellis had two putts for the championship but required only one to seal a memorable comeback victory.

“It’s unbelievable. I can’t believe what I have just done but you should never give up and never give in,” Ellis said. “I just kept giving myself chances down the stretch and luckily played much better than I had all day and somehow it was good enough that we had to go to the 38th hole.

“I didn’t think I was ever done but I knew the task was getting tougher and tougher, especially after I missed the par on the 13th to go four down with five to play. It was always going to be a tough task but 14 was quite pivotal.

“I needed to hit a good chip on 15 and I did. I needed to hit a good bunker shot on 16 and I did. Luckily, I hit those shots first and kept putting the pressure on. I cannot believe what happened down the stretch!”

Perry was trying to remain positive after loss and take the lessons learned into the European Amateur he will contest next week.

Perry with his runner-up medal. PHOTO: Harry Hubbard/Getty Images.

“I’m a bit bummed but golf is a strange game. At the end of the day I have got to take the positives out of the week and move forward,” he said.

“I played good all day and then down the stretch – that’s what the pressure does to some people. I hit a few good putts and had a nice few holes but it obviously just wasn’t meant to be. Congratulations to him, he played well down the stretch so good on him.

“I have the European Amateur next week so I’ll rest up for that. Hopefully I can go one better.”

For Ellis, his preparations will now be focused on The Open Championship.

“It (The Open) is very soon. Obviously, it’s on another links course at Royal Birkdale so we will see how we go,” Ellis said. “I just want to soak up the experience there and get as much from it as I possibly can. It has always been a dream to play in majors and I get to play in three now. My game is in a good place so hopefully I can do something there. For me I just want to soak it in.”