JERSEY’S golfers will have the weather to beat off as well as the opposition when the NatWest 72-hole Strokeplay Championship tees off tomorrow afternoon at La Moye Golf Club.
Strong winds and heavy rain are forecast for tomorrow when the opening 18 holes of Jersey’s premier amateur championship begin.
Gavin O’Neill, 2003 Golfer of the Year, will be hoping to go one step further than last year when he finished runner-up, by seven strokes, to current Channel Islands champion Paul Le Chevalier.
O’Neill, who was also runner-up to Le Chevalier in the Island Matchplay championship last month, said: ‘I’m confident I can do well.
I’ve had some good scores over the past few weeks including two under-par rounds for Hampshire last Saturday.
‘If I can get my putting right I’ve a good chance of winning.
The weather won’t bother me, I’m used to playing in bad weather; it’s a case of getting on with it and concentrating fully.’ Jersey Golf Union secretary Rob Leader said: ‘The forecast is grim for tomorrow’s opening holes, heavy rain is predicted with localised flooding.
That’s a big worry to us as we can’t play if the greens are flooded.
‘We do have a contingency plan to play 54 holes instead - we don’t want to do that but we might have to.’ It promises to be another great three days of golf with all the leading players in the Island taking part.
James Birch is the only leading golfer absent because of work commitments.
Le Chevalier and O’Neill should be front runners again and they will face stiff competition from host players Richard Ramskill and Richard Alker - both past NatWest champions.
Former Island Games player Andy Boxall is back playing again, after time out motocross racing, while others expected to do well are Royal Jersey’s Christy McLaughlin, and La Moye’s Geoff Ramskill who is CI Seniors champion and now playing off a career-best handicap of just two.
It’s also the final chance to impress the Island selectors as Jersey’s inter-insular team will be chosen next week.
Others in contention for Island places and the NatWest title include Gary Denton, Stuart Crossan, Trevor Gray, Richard Williamson, Robbie Messervy, Andy Clarke and Matthew Parkman.
Play starts at 2.20 pm tomorrow and on Friday with the top 16 then playing 36 holes on Saturday, teeing off at 8 am and again from 1 pm.
Article posted on 7th July, 2004 - 12.00am
Most Commented: