ROYAL Jersey’s Anabelle Lucas-Villar told herself she “wouldn’t hold back” in the afternoon round of Jersey Golf’s Ladies Strokeplay Championships, and that mindset steered the 17-year-old to a five-shot victory over club-mate Iman Hamid-Wilkinson around her home course with a superb 72 (one-over-par).
For the short, exposed links, Royal Jersey is heavily reliant on the elements as its primary form of defence,
Jersey’s best Island golfers were blessed with benign conditions throughout the Jersey Golf men’s and ladies Strokeplay Championships – but they certainly needed it.
A warm and wet spring provided the perfect recipe for thick rough around the eastern links, which wreaked havoc over both the 72-hole men’s contest and 36-hole ladies event.
Scoring proved challenging across both events, with an increased premium placed on finding the short grass off the tee, or risk being unable to escape the rough, or, worse, not find your ball at all.
Lucas-Villar sat one shot back of Hamid-Wilkinson at the midway stage, after an opening round 80 (nine-over-par).
“I definitely struggled in the morning. The putts weren’t dropping and I had quite a few visits to the rough,” she said.
“When the course is playing as punishing as it was, when you’re offline you just need to be sensible and accept that you will probably drop shots.
“Course management is always vital in golf, but it was probably more so in this tournament with how difficult it was playing.
“I knew I was only one shot behind with the second round to go, so it was still all to play for.”
All to play for it certainly was and Lucas-Villar’s confident approach in round two paid dividends.
The teenager made birdies at the first, sixth, eighth and ninth, with dropped shots at five and seven to turn in two-under-par.
A further birdie at the 12th took her to three under with six to play.
The finishing stretch at Royal Jersey is unforgiving at the best of times, but with shots in hand, Lucas-Villar strolled to victory, with rounds of 80 and 72.
She added: “Obviously it didn’t go the way I wanted it to in the opening round.
“I thought to myself that I wouldn’t hold back and I will be aggressive where I could to pick up shots.
“It was still important to be sensible and take my medicine if I was offline, but I wanted to make the chances count and I managed to do that with five birdies in the round.
“I did make some mistakes in the closing stretch, but I had done the hard work up to that point and knew I had a few shots to play with and still get over the line.”
For Lucas-Villar, her attentions soon turn to county duty, where the Islander has been selected for Hampshire Ladies for the prestigious County Match Week against fellow England Golf South Region counties in early July.
The teenager has impressed the selectors with her play both on home soil and in the mainland over recent years and was duly rewarded with the call-up.
The event is due to be held in Hampshire at North Hants GC, the home course of major champion Justin Rose.
With Hamid-Wilkinson taking a deserved second spot, third place was occupied by Melissa McMahon, the assistant general manager at Royal Jersey.
Having recently made the move from Lyme Regis, the scratch handicapper fired rounds of 82 and 77 to finish two strokes ahead of Helen Gray in fourth, who shot a stellar 74 in the second round after an opening 87.
