Tom Le Huray chips onto the 12th green. The island player was in good form from tee to green but his putter was ice cold. (0560341)
THE Guernsey Juniors seem to enjoy shredding the nerves of their president, Colin Le Huray.
When it became apparent on Saturday that their Hampshire Sevens clash with the Royal Guernsey would come down to the final match out once again, Le Huray asked whether the club would pay for ‘the heart transplant that I’m going to need’.
But, as in their thrilling opening-round win at La Grande Mare, he need not have worried because last man out Danny O’Brien was to be the hero for the second time this season and the president maintained his unbeaten local record in the competition. ‘I don’t mind them putting me through it if they keep winning,’ Le Huray said.
‘I think that this was possibly a better win than the one at La Grande Mare. We were up against a very experienced side and they were not easy conditions.’
With the overall score at 3-3, eyes turned to O’Brien, who was up against multi-time island champion David Warr.
The youngster had fallen behind early on, but fought back well to level on the 11th green.
They remained all square coming down 15, but Warr pulled his second shot into the gorse to the back left of the green.
With an unplayable lie, his nearest point of relief for his drop was all the way over towards the 13th green, but his fourth was as good a chip as he could have played, giving him a chance of a five.
However, his 12ft putt slipped just by the low side of the hole and O’Brien took advantage to edge ahead.
A par four at the next suddenly put the junior dormy two up as Warr failed to get up and down from the left of the green.
O’Brien confidently knocked an iron into the middle of the fairway at 17 before Warr found rough up the left with his drive and could only advance his second into a greenside bunker while his opponent found the putting surface.
Typical of the man, Warr managed an excellent sand save to ensure O’Brien had to get down in two for the match, but the latter held his nerve to roll in his three-foot par putt.
Earlier, Steve Birkett had put the first point on the board for the RGGC, chipping in on more than one occasion from off the green in his 4 and 3 victory over Tom Pattimore.
Mark Allez made it 2-0 and took a noteable scalp with a 1 up victory over Tom Le Huray, who had played some fine golf from tee to green but could not buy a putt – just missing birdie efforts on both 16 and 17 which would have squared the match.
But behind those two matches, the youngest two of the young guns were displaying their exciting potential once more.
From the moment Nigel Vaudin conceded the first having found gorse with his tee shot, Sam Le Huray strode around L’Ancresse with a confident air that belied the fact that the 14-year-old was up against the island finalist of the last two years.
He was ahead for much of the morning and was dormy when he rolled in a birdie putt on 16 to secure the juniors’ first point.
Within approximately 20 seconds, on the preceding hole, Luke Blondel wrapped up an impressive victory over Patrick McKeary, who had to give his promising opponent 10 shots.
Assisted by having Guernsey champion Jack Mitchell on his bag, Blondel showed that he has taken to this competition like a duck to water and even finding a horrid place on the hill next to the 15th green could not prevent him ending his tie there.
Vitally for the juniors, with Mick Marley looking as if he would defeat their captain, Craig Shorto, in the sixth match, Will Davidson showed a great deal of grit and determination over the final two holes to hold on to the one-hole advantage he gained over Paul Le Page at 16.
It had been a see-saw battle between the two for the duration, but when from the 16th tee Colin Le Huray saw his player shaking hands on the 18th, a pump of the fist told that it was all coming down to the that deciding final match.
For the record, Marley v. Shorto was a peculiar encounter with no hole halved until the eighth and the veteran eventually came out on top.
‘For me, Sam, Luke, Will and Danny have all done it again, they really have,’ said president Le Huray.
‘I am chuffed to bits. It was looking a bit iffy at one stage, but we came through. It is a great result.
‘This is now two local finals in a row, which could well be a first for the junior club, and whoever we get – L’Ancresse or Alderney – does not matter.
‘This is another platform to build on now.’
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