CHANNEL Islands golf champion Richard Ramskill has won the Jersey Golf Union’s PBS Order of Merit for the third time.

Going into the final event of the year level with La Moye colleague Andy Clarke last weekend, the JW Messervy Salver at Royal Jersey, Ramskill finished fifth and Clarke sixth in the event to win the Order of Merit by just two points overall.

‘I won by a whisker,’ admitted 31-year-old Ramskill.

‘It’s always nice to be a winner and it gets tougher each year.

The standard of the Island’s golfers continues to rise and next year it will be even tougher again.

‘Sixteen-year-olds Chris Young and Sam Crenan are improving all the time while while professionals Dan Birchell [Royal Jersey] and Richard Luke [La Moye] have got their amateur status back so they will be playing a lot more next year.

The juniors are already knocking on the door and with the ex-pros playing more that can only help improve the overall standard further.

‘I’m delighted to have won the title for the third time, two points is a very small margin and full credit to Andy [Clarke] for finishing runner-up.

‘He has worked very hard on his game in recent years and this is his reward.

He has come on leaps and bounds in my opinion and his consistency has been rewarded with him finishing runner-up.’ Ramskill won the PBS title with 62 and a half points.

Clarke totalled 60 and a half with Gavin O’Neill and Paul Le Chevalier finishing third and fourth respectively with 42 and 40 points.