Rivalries resumed: Jersey celebrate golfing victory

Inter insular golf at the Royal Jersey. Mat Hague 10th Picture: JON GUEGAN

The hosts recovered from an inferior position at Royal Jersey on Saturday afternoon to hold a 6-4 overnight lead, before the Sarnians rallied in the early stages of Sunday’s singles matches.

Richard Ramskill and Sam Crenan limited the damage but Guernsey turned the tables for an 8-7 lead with three consecutive victories in matches three to five. However, it was one-way traffic in Jersey’s favour from there, with Matthew Parkman, Alex Guelpa, Mat Hague, Simon Allchin and Jeremy Phillips all securing wins for a 12-8 final score.

Captain Ian Daly’s decision to spread his strongest players across the board for the singles certainly paid off.

‘We were going into the singles with a two-point lead and it can be tempting to attack and win it early,’ Daly explained. ‘But that can be counter-productive.

‘We needed to balance out the experienced players and I spoke to Jeremy [on Saturday night] and told him he was my insurance policy, going out tenth. It is a team effort, though, and the resilience shown was superb. It was looking quite bad for a long time – only later did it start to swing and I’m absolutely delighted. I’m so proud of the team.’

Full report and reaction in Monday’s JEP.

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