Quail and Parkman maintain their nerve to win at the last

Paul Jones (pictured) partnered with Allan Black to reach the handicap semi-finals. They would fall to the eventual winners, Jack Langford and Kai Walters Picture: ROB CURRIE

TUCKED pin positions and a stiff north-westerly breeze laid out a true test of golf as 58 pairs started the 2023 Jersey Golf Foursomes.

Sponsored by the Dolphin Hotel, the event is split into a strokeplay qualifier, then a matchplay contest for those who best tamed the Royal Jersey conditions.

Those who did were greeted with much more benign weather, which led to some terrific golf across the board.

On the men’s scratch side, James Draisey and Tom Jewell shot 73 (+3), as did Matt Parkman and Sam Quail.

Meanwhile, Harry Gibbon and Sam Jaakola (75) and Harrison Carlyon and Kevin Therin (76), rounded out the qualifying spots.

Draisey and Jewell defeated Carlyon and Therin 3&2 in their semi-final contest, as Parkman and Quail saw off the challenge of Gibbon and Jaakola by the same margin.

Just as the final looked like it would be a procession, a fightback emerged.

Parkman and Quail were 5up at the turn against their Royal Jersey colleagues, but some inspired golf from Draisey and Jewell reduced the margin to just one hole to send the final up the last.

Quail, playing in his first major final, slotted an eight-foot putt for par and, with it, claimed victory.

In the ladies’ scratch, Suzy Cornic and Nicola Mollin shot 85, as did Virginia Austin-Walker and Fiona Gray.

Louise Kirton-Read and Helen Lagadu (89) and Brona Lambert and Sarah Le Boutillier (93) also qualified.

Lambert and Le Boutillier proceeded to upset the number one seeds, Cornic and Mollin, with a comprehensive 4&3 victory to book themselves a final spot against Austin-Walker and Gray, who beat Kirton-Read and Lagadu 3&2.

It was La Moye’s Austin-Walker and Gray who came out on top, staving off the attempted comeback of Lambert and Le Boutillier to take the crown with a 4&3 victory.

In the men’s handicap, Peter Horsfall and Brian Williams defeated Dean Burnouf and Tom Eaton 4&2 in the semi-finals, while Jack Langford and Kai Walters beat Allan Black and Paul Jones 3&1.

It was one-way traffic for Langford and Walters in the final, who enjoyed a stellar 6&4 victory to win their maiden Jersey Golf Foursomes handicap crown.

Qualifying scores (top eight)

Men’s scratch ScoreJ Draisey/T Jewell 73M Parkman/S Quail 73H Gibbon/S Jaakola 75H Carlyon/K Therin 76 (cb)S Anderson/ J Ozard 76K Fitzpatrick/ M Hesford 78S Crenan/M Hague 79 (cb)D Burnouf/T Eaton 79

Ladies scratchS Cornic/N Mollin 85 (cb)V Austin-Walker/ F Gray 85L Kirton-Read/ H Lagadu 89B Lambert/ S Le Boutillier 93C Hollick/J Richardson 94 (cb)A Bolle-Jones/ H Scriven 94A Carolan/ S Herbert 97S Lambotte/ P Parkin 108

Men’s handicap (nett)J Draisey/T Jewell 70H Gibbon/S Jaakola 71 (cb)D Burnouf/T Eaton 71M Parkman/S Quail 72A Black/ P Jones 73 (cb)J Langford/ K Walters 73 (cb)H Carlyon/K Therin 73 (cb)P Horsfall/ B Williams 73

*cb = on countback

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