Norfolk Handicap Championship winner Jack Johnson receives the Geoffrey Burroughs Salver from Norfolk County Golf Union president Stuart Goodman (Image: Norfolk County Golf Union)

Schoolboy Jack Johnson secured the biggest victory of his career with an impressive performance in the Norfolk Handicap Championship.

Johnson, 14, fired back-to-back net scores of 73 to finish at level par and win by a single stroke at Caldecott Hall Golf Club.

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Receiving five strokes per round, the Royal Norwich junior overcame a shaky start that saw him drop a shot on each of the opening four holes of the historic tournament.

But Johnson demonstrated his resolve and ability with a fine first-round comeback that included a net birdie hat-trick from the 14th hole.

That scoring spree helped the Norfolk Under-16s golfer into the halfway lead alongside Wensum Valley member Stuart Goddard.

Johnson barely had time to finish his lunchtime jacket potato before he was back in action for round two.

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His wedge into the first green ran through the back but he had the answer, holing a 20-foot par putt.

Johnson made a gross birdie at the following par-5 hole and kept his foot down for much of the round.

And even when a shot or two did slip away late in the day, he had the belief to close out with the gutsiest of pars on the testing par-4 18th.

Johnson’s pushed drive at the last found a mound flanking one side of the fairway. Swinging a 7-wood baseball style his approach finished in a tricky spot to the right of the green about 20 yards from the pin.

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Stood over his third shot, the Norwich School pupil understood the importance of the situation.

He knew he had to get up and down to keep alive his chances of winning. The moment called for a grandstand finish – and Johnson provided it.

He said: “I kind of flop shot-ed it quite high. It landed soft on a down-slope, shot off to around five or six feet and then I made that putt.

“I did give it a little fist bump because I knew it was kind of a big putt. I came in and saw I was first and then it was a waiting game.

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“I said to my dad, ‘That putt will make the difference in the scoring’.”

Johnson’s assessment proved correct as those players behind him on the course were unable to catch him.

Goddard finished runner-up with his one-over-par tally edging Dunston Hall golfer James Martin into third place.

Johnson’s victory against his elders sets him up nicely ahead of a busy summer’s golf.

He already lies second on the order of merit in the age 14-15 category of the British Junior Golf Tour and will play a string of events on that circuit.

Johnson will also line up on home soil at Royal Norwich in the Norfolk Boys Championship on August 6.